POPULAR LECTURES 



ON THE 

EPISTLE OF PAUL, 

THE APOSTLE, 

TO THE 

HEBREWS. 

BY JOSEPH AUGUSTUS SEISS, 

PASTOR OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF SHEPHERDSTOWN, VA. 




33 a 1 1 f m r e: 

PRINTED AT THE PUBLICATION ROOMS, 
NO. 7 SOUTH LIBERTY STREET. 

1846. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by J. S. Seis s, in the 
Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maryland. 



^ CONTENTS. 



LECTURE PAGE. 

I. The Superior Excellence of the Gospel, - - 5 

II. The Deity of Christ, - - - - - 16 

III, Christ's Super-angelic Dignity, - 28 

IV. The Claims of the Gospel and Hopelessness of Neg- 

lecting it, - - - - - - 38 

V. Christ's Humiliation no ground of Contempt but En- 
couragement, - - - - - - 48 

VI. Christ's Superiority to Moses, - 58 

VII. The Sin of Unbelief, - - - - - - 69 

VIII. The Promised Rest, - - - - • - 80 
IX. Properties of the Word of God, - - - - 93 

X. The Priesthood of Jesu« Christ, - - - 105 

XI. The. Qualifications of a Priest, - - - - 118 

XII. Popular Ignorance Reproved, - - - - 130 

XIII. The Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity, - - 140 

XIV. The Unpardonable Sin, - - - - - 152 
XV. The Essential Accompaniments and Highest State of 

Christian Character, - - - - 167 

XVI. The Immutability of the Divine Purpose, - - 178 

XVII. The Superiority of Messiah's Priesthood, - - 188 

XVIII. The Superiority of Messiah's Priesthood continued, 199 

XIX. The New Covenant, 209 

XX. The Tabernacle of Moses, - - - - - 221 

XXI. The Services of the Tabernacle, - - - 234 

XXII. The Ancient and Christian Dispensations compared, 244 

XXIII. The Atonement of Christ, 25S 

XXIV. The Sacritice of Jesus Christ, ~ 272 



iv. 



CONTENTS. 



LECTURE PAGE. 

XXV. Our Privileges and Duties under the New Dispensation, 283 
XXVI. The Fearful Guilt and Punishment of Rejecting Christ, 293 

XXVII. Encouragements to Christian Perseverance, - - 304 

XXVIII. Faith, 313 

XXIX. Moses and his Choice, 327 

XXX. The Christian Race, ..... 333 

XXXI. Divine Chastisements, 348 

XXXII. The Means and Motives of Christian Perseverance, 359 

XXXIII. Christian Virtues, 370 

XXXIV. Marriage, - - - ..... 380 
XXXV. Christian Duties, ...... 391 

XXXVI. Conclusion, - - 401 



PREFACE. 



t« A Series of Pulpit Discourses on the obvious subject-matter of 
Scripture," says Dr. Chalmers, "is of a different character from those 
critical and expository works, the object of which is to ascert in the 
meaning — even of the more obscure and controverted, as well as of the 
clearest passages." It contains no discussions of the genuineness, 
canonical authority, and collateral particulars of the text which it ex- 
pounds — no lists of references to ancient Manuscripts, Versions, and Edi- 
tions of the sacred word — no tedious citations of the hard names and 
opinions of the Fathers — no long quotations from the polluted pages of 
heathen authors — and no unsightly parade of dead and foreign lan- 
guages. And whilst it thus avoids on the one hand what the popular 
reader looks upon as redundant, it is equally removed from that un- 
justifiable wresting and misapplication of the inspired sentiment so 
often connected with the ordinary mode of sermonizing on the other. 

Various circumstances conduced to impress the writer with the be- 
lief, that the analytic exhibition from the pulpit of the contents of en- 
tire books or epistles of the holy canon, together with occasional selec- 
tions of themes and texts from different portions of the Bible, would 
afford advantages for both preacher and people not otherwise to be en- 
joyed. With the view of testing this opinion, he entered upon the 
design of preaching a course of Popular Lectures on Paul's Ep stle to 
the Hebrews. The result has been to confirm his original belief. The 
frequently expressed wishes of many who heard, and of otheirs who 
read these performances, to have them in a more permanent form, have 
induced him, in the hope that they may be of service to the church at 
large, to give them to the world. The reader will find very few, and 
those very slight alterations in the style and form in which they were 
originally delivered to the congregation. 

The object of the author has been, to illustrate the design and the 
practical bearings of the Apostle's argument, as fully as the circum- 
stances would permit, and so clearly that all may understand. How 
far he has succeeded in this, the candid reader is to decide. 

If learned criticism be desired, it will not be found in these pages. 
This belongs to a different department of exposition ; and so far as the 



PREFACE. 



letter to the Hebrews is concerned, has already been most ably gone 
over. The Biblical critic, somewhat like the engineer, by the gui- 
dance of certain settled laws marks out the boundaries, and draws the 
fixed lines of the sacred meaning. But the business of the writer of 
the following Lectures has been more like that of the geographer; viz. 
to describe the scenery which lies within these hmits— to point out the 
altitudes and depressions — to trace the courses of streams, the extent 
of seas, and the ranges of mountains — and to exhibit the entire terri- 
tory clothed in all its richness, luxuriance and variety. 

In difficult places the clearest and most satisfactory renderings of 
commentators have been adopted, without burdening patience with the 
history and authority of each particular opinion,. On some occasions 
it has been thought indispensable to the preservation of that beautiful 
unity which runs through the whole epistle, to differ from the views 
of distinguished authors. Where such has been the case, only the 
conclusions have been introduced, whilst the more intricate and philo- 
logical inquiries which led to them have been left out of sight. 

Feeling no little diffidence in venturing before the world in so im- 
portant and responsible a character, the author asks to be treated kind- 
ly in case he should in any instance have written what might be re- 
garded as reason for offense to any of his brethren, as no one will be 
more prompt to rectify any inaccuracies of sentiment or style which 
enlightened candor may point out. 

And may the HoJy Trinity, own and bless this humble attempt to 
augment the triumphs of the Gospel. And unto the Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost, shall be ascribed all the praise forever and ever. Amen. 

September, A. D. 1846. 



POPULAR LECTURES 

ON THE 

EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE 

TO THE 

HEBREWS. 

L E C T U R E I . 

THE SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. 

Hebrews i. I, 2. — God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time 
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his 
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. 

Among the many extraordinary personages who have made their 
appearance at different times in the christian churcfi, the apostle 
Paul is doubtless to be ranked as the most illustrious. Honorable 
in his origin, endowed with the highest order of intellect and the 
most daring energy of character, educated in every department of 
knowledge, and sanctified and animated by the Spirit of God, he 
w^as unquestionably the greatest ciiampion of Truth that has ever 
figured upon the theatre of time. This is plain, whether we con- 
sider the greatness of the foes whom he opposed, or the glory of 
the victories which he won. Called in the order of Providence to 
be an apostle of Jesus, it fell to his lot to lead in the battle against 
principalities and against powers — the Sanhedrim of the Jews, the 
Areopagus of Athens, and the Forum of Rome. Festus, and Agrip- 
pa, and Felix, and Caesar, were authorities with whom he contend- 
ed. As to his achievements, he traversed seas and lands subduing 
islands, cities, and nations unto the dominion of Christ. He gave 
a Savior and a King to Macedonia, to Galatia, to Ephesus, to Lao- 
dicea, to Iconium, to Lystra, and to Collosse. The graces of the 



6 



LECTURE I.— -CHAPTER I. 1,2. 



Parthenon, and the splendors of Diana's temple were all made to 
blush and fade before his pure denunciations. Rome at his ap- 
proach threw down her idols and acknowledged his cause. He de- 
throned the gods and goddesses of Greece, and planted the cross 
amid the glory of its renowned metropolis. And in the greatness 
of his triumph he even pushed his victories south to Ethiopia, and 
north as tradition says, to the remote isle of Britain. 

Nor am 1 aware that Paul anywhere manifests more of his great- 
ness, or evinces more fervor in the prosecution of his apostleship, 
than in his epistle to the Hebrews. Burning with an agony of 
anxiety for the good of his national kindred, he here puts forth his 
strength like Sampson in the temple of Dagon. Argument after 
argument, appeal after appeal, and flash after flash, here pour upon 
the reader in a stream of fiery eloquence which bears him along 
with a resistless impulse to the foot of the cross. The learned Dr. 
Clarke has said, (and I cannot better express my own opinion on 
this point than by quoting his language,) " All the doctrines of the 
Gospel are, in it, embodied, illustrated, and enforced, in a manner 
the most lucid ; by references and examples the most striking and 
illustrious; and by arguments the most cogent and convincing. It 
is an epitome of the dispensations of God to man, from the founda- 
tion of the world to the Advent of Christ. It is not only the sum 
of the Gospel ; but the sum and completion of the law, of which it 
is also a beautiful and luminous comment. Never were premises 
more clearly stated; never was an argument handled in a more mas- 
terly manner; and never was a conclusion more legitimately and 
satisfactorily brought forth. The matter is everywhere the most 
interesting ; the manner is throughout the most engaging ; and the 
language is the most beautifully adapted to the whole; everywhere 
appropriate, always nervous and energetic; dignified as is the sub- 
ject, pure and elegant as that of the most accomplished Grecian or- 
ators; and harmonious and diversified as the music of the spheres." 

The circumstances and feelings under which it was written, con- 
stitute it a message of peculiar importance and solemnity. It was 
addressed to God's ancient, highly favored, but unfortunate people 
as the last word of gracious warning, and as the final appeal to the 
house of Israel to repent of their accumulated guilt and embrace 
their despised King. Jerusalem had well nigli filled up the cup of 
her iniquity. She had killed her prophets and stoned them that 



4 



LECTURE I.— CHAPTER I. 1,2. 



7 



were sent unto her, and the crucifixion of her Lord had now ma- 
tured her wickedness. In judgment against her, armies were soon 
to encompass her walls and desolation to sit enthroned in her high 
places. Soon she was to become a reproach and a by-word among 
the nations, her inhabitants to perish, to wander and die, and Chris- 
tianity banished from the land of its birth to seek on other shores a 
resting place and home. Fully conscious of the impending ruin, 
Paul wrote this epistle as the last and despairing effort for their sal- 
vation. With an unearthly solemnity he rings the death-token in 
their dull ears, and with the vividness of lightning flashes upon their 
obscuring visions the fearful certainties of approaching doom. He 
addresses all the powers of reason, appeals to every sensibility of 
the heart, and by all that is fearful in judgment, and all that is glo- 
rious in salvation beseeches them to be reconciled to God. 

Nor does this epistle apply with much, if any less force to us, 
and to all people, than it did originally to the Jews. I think that 
we w'lW find it replete with holy instruction, and abounding with the 
most thrilling warnings to the wicked and careless. 

In the text, the apostle at once with great dignity and elegance, 
proceeds to the general declaration of his main position; viz. the 
superior excellence of the Gospel of Christ, Several particulars are 
comprised in this statement, in w^hich this superiority is strongly 
narked. " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake 
n time past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days 
»poken to us by his Son." These thoughts it will then be my busi- 
less to develop and urge upon your consideration. 

We are extremely prone to go through tlie formal exercise of 
reading the Scriptures, and of passing our eyes over the books, 
ihapters, verses and lines, without having the truths which are there 
aught to make any impression on our minds. And even when we 
.ntend to be thoughtful and studious, the phrases and modes of ex- 
pression often appear so familiar, that we pass on w^ithout properly 
understanding their meaning, or feeling their power. Hence, it 
shall be my object in this lecture, and all that succeed it in this se- 
ries, to illustrate and enforce the more obvious and strikinia^ thoughts 
and reflections, as they occur in the text. And I sincerely ask you 
who know how to pray, to unite with me in supplicating the assist- 
ance of the Holy Spirit, in order that I may rightly conceive and 
present the word of God. 



6 



LECTURE I. CHAPTER I. 1,2. 



It is stated eoncerning God's communications to the fathers, that 
they were made " at sundry times.'''* The original of this contains 
two shades of meaning, both of which may properly be made the 
subject of special remark. The first is, that God's former com- 
munications were made by several parts, by detached 'parcels. And 
how manifest is the correctness of this statement in regard to the 
whole history of revelation preceding the Advent of Clirist. It was 
only here and there at separate intervals, that the intimations of Je- 
hovah's will were given. All that can be gathered of revelatiors 
from the ages preceding the commencement of the christian era^ 
consists of mere broken fragments. Now and then a voice from 
heaven was heard, or a prophet rose up to rebuke some particular 
vice— enjoin some particular virtue — or to save men from utter des- 
pair by the mysterious utterance of some joyful promise. The 
fountains of heavenly truth were all kept so closely sealed, that the 
world had to rest content with the mere occasional drippings. 
There was nothing complete. What was given it is true, did serve 
to raise the drooping spirits and animate the hopes of those to whom 
it was delivered ; but still there were many vacancies to be suppli- 
ed, and many dark intervening spots to be illuminated. A deep 
moral night still hung heavily upon the nations, though a little re- 
lieved by the dim twinkling of scattered stars. All the light which 
was given to Adam, to the patriarchs, to the Hebrews, by angels, 
by prophets, and through ordinances; though it kindled up many 
a glad hope, still left man sighing anxiously through the gloom — ■ 
"Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" 
The prophets themselves were convinced of the dark, broken and 
undeveloped character of the truths which they uttered. Peter re- 
presents them as searching and inquiring diligently, but never fully 
comprehending their deep and hidden import. 

Observe then the superior excellence of the Gospel of Christ. 
Here we have a revelation of the Divine will, not in an imperfect 
and disconnected form; but all that we need, and all that God in- 
tends to give us in this life, we have entire. We have now no 
longer to rest satisfied with the drippings, the Lion of the tribe of 
Judah has broken the seals from the richest fountains of truth, 
whose glad waters now flow with exhaustless plenty for all the 
earth. We need no longer grope our way through the dimness of 
starlight^ amid murky shades and dingy gloom; but cheered by the- 



LECTURE I. — CHAPTER I. 1,2. 



9 



beams of a full-orbed day we may walk without fear of stumbling, 
run and not be weary. According to the prophecy of Isaiah it has 
happened unto us. The darkness which covered the earth, and the 
gross darkness which brooded over the minds of the people, has 
been chased away by the brightness of the Savior's coming. When 
Jesus opened his saintly lips, the veil was rent, and the sunlight of 
heaven let in upon the world. And though in the study of the 
Scriptures, we occasionally meet with little perplexities and difficul- 
ties which the utmost wisdom of man cannot explain; yet, these 
no more effect the perfection of the christian revelation, than the 
specks and partial obscurations which lie scattered over the disk of 
the sun, obstruct the blazing radiance of his beams. So far as our 
capacities and circumstances admit, or our wants require, our Scrip- 
tures are perfect. Not that every shade or phase of the diversified 
cases of human character is specifically provided for ; but that such 
a perfect set of principles has been so clearly revealed, as to fur- 
nish all that is necessary to our welfare here, and our glory here- 
after. 

Another signification attaching to the phrase " sundry times" is, 
that of slow and gradual development. This is also true in refer- 
ence to God's communications to the fathers. The main body of 
the Old Testament was more than one thousand years compiling. 
Imperfect as the ancient Scriptures are, they were more than three 
thousand years in reaching their full development. From the first 
communications to Adam to those made to Noah, there was a pe- 
riod of nearly a thousand years of long unbroken silence. Then 
followed the patriarchal age, embracing nearly one thousand years 
more, in which but little addition was made to the stock of revela- 
tion. And from Moses down to Malachi, embracing another thous- 
and years, the amount of sacred knowledge was very slowly and 
tediously parceled out. Now one prophet was raised up ; after a 
while another. Now one portion of prophecy or history was given ; 
then something in addition. So that it was by the slow and tedious 
development of nearly fifty centuries, that the measure of Old Tes- 
tament Theology was filled up. About thirty successive prophets 
spent their energies in perfecting the edifice of Judaism, and then 
left it but a temporary shelter for the guilty soul. Three distinct 
dispensations were instituted for the gradual opening of the will of 



10 



LECTURE I. CHAPTER I. 1,2. 



God to the ancients ; and even then it remained very imperfectly 
understood. 

But the measure of revelation under the christian economy, was 
filled up in.one age. There were no successions of dispensations — 
no long lines of prophets to be accomplished. All was brought to 
perfection in half a century. Nearly all the apostles were yet 
alive, when every part of the New Testament was finished. It was 
not at sundry times, that the glorious Gospel was given to the world. 
It was given at once in all its perfection and fulness. It at once 
threw open the doors of Jehovah's council chamber, and let man 
in to hear and understand to every desirable extent, what is the will 
of God. The veil which for ages concealed the mysteries of grace, 
Christ at once tore away, and the full blaze of a perfect revelation 
shed its brightness over the deep gloom of our world. 

Again, the superior excellence of the Gospel may be seen in the 
mode of its communication. God not only spoke to the fathers in 
time past at sundry times, but also in " divers manners.''^ Various, 
complex, and often mistakeable were the forms in which Divine 
truth was presented to the view of the ancients. Some few direct 
promises and annunciations were made, but nearly all that referred 
to spiritual and eternal things, was enveloped in considerable ob- 
scurity. The promise made in the garden of Eden, that the seed 
of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, though it doubtless 
accomplished the purposes for which it was intended ; yet is wrapt 
up in a mystery which must then have been impenetrable. The 
several covenants at different times entered into, were all of such a 
character that their highest signification was almost, if not entirely, 
lost sight of. The figures, types, and symbols that were instituted 
in former dispensations to convey to man a knowledge of the Divine 
purposes, were extremely dark and mystical. To us who have a 
knowledge of the facts to which they referred, they seem plain 
enough. But the interpretation of types by the truths typified, and 
the discovery of truth through the medium of types alone, are two 
things. In the one case the whole matter may be clear as light; 
but in the other we may be driven to exclaim with one of old "truly 
thou art a God who hidest thyself" The ark of Noah, though 
expressly stated in the New Testament to be a type of Christ, was 
certainly never so understood by the ancients. The bondage of the 
descendants of Jacob in Egypt, and their deliverance by Moses, 



LECTURE I. CHArTER I. 1,2. 



11 



beautifully as it typified the great redemption of the Gospel, was 
never so considered. The sacrifices and bloody rites of the tem- 
ple, all shadowing forth the blessed sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on 
Calvary, were seldom so viewed by the Jewish worshippers. These 
figures were entirely too complicated to strike the mind with any 
degree of vividness. The literal meaning was the one which most- 
ly engrossed their attention, whilst the great and weighty truths 
which they symbolized were greatly overlooked. And much more 
than ordinary sagacity was required, to enable them to grasp from 
these dim shadows the high conceptions which they typically em- 
bodied. 

The prophecies too, which were intended to point more directly 
to the Divine purposes, and though by far the clearest portions of 
ancient revelation, consisted mostly of mysterious dreams and vi- 
sions, which were very indefinite in their impressions, and could 
not convey an exact knowledge of the events predicted. With 
such modes of teaching, no people could have been led to an en- 
tirely correct conception of the truth. These divers manners in 
which God spake in time past to the fathers, were doubtless chosen 
for wise purposes, and subserve gracious ends; but they must be 
looked upon as greatly inferior to that simple, definite, and complete 
mode in which the Gospel was communicated. But few obscure 
types and mysterious visions are found in the writings of the New 
Testament. And though dift'erent writers were employed, they 
have all dwelt upon the same subject with the same distinct phrase- 
ology. Its precepts are the most clearly stated, and its promises 
the most unambiguously uttered. All the essential doctrines are 
couched in such unequivocal language, that none need mistake them. 
Everything is characterized with such clearness and perspicuity, 
that " he who runs may read, and a way-faring man though a fool 
need not err therein.'' 

The superior excellence of the Gospel is also to be seen in the 
instrumentality by which it was delivered. In former dispensations, 
the principal channels through which the word of God was com- 
municated, were the prophets. " God, who at sundry times and in 
divers manners spake in time past to the fathers by the prophets.^"* 
These were mere men, subject to like passions and infirmities with 
ourselves. Moses, who was the first and greatest, is charged in 
the Scriptures with some serious manifestations of depravity. Eli- 



12 



LECTURE I. — CHAPTER 1.1,2. 



jah had his failings. Jonah was not guiltless. David was a " sin- 
ner." Isaiah was " a man of unclean lips." And so witli all the 
rest. So that the instruments of God's communications to the fa- 
thers were imperfect and fallible. To say the most, they were but 
servants ; w^orthy servants it is true, but still servants. They could 
lay claim to no superhuman excellence. 

But " in these last days God hath spoken to us by his /Son." Not 
an inferior creature, but his co-equal Son, w^as the medium through 
whom tlie Gospel was given. Certainly this was the most dignified 
messenger that ever trod our world. Not only was he superior to 
the prophets, but he was clothed with all the majesty of the God 
of the prophets. He was the Creator of all things, and the heir 
and proprietor of all things. He was not only free from all those 
imperfections with which the prophets were chargeable, but he was 
" holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," and free from 
all guile — " the brightness of his father's glory, and the express 
image of his person." And though he was reproached as a drunk^ 
ard — a friend of publicans and sinners — a deceiver of the people — 
one possessed with a devil; yet, all his actions, teachings, and the 
prodigies which marked his path give the lie to the foul calumnies 
heaped upon him, and demonstrate to angels and to men the wor- 
shipful majesty of his character. This, my hearers, is the honored 
instrument of the new economy. His own hallowed lips gave ut- 
terance to the blessed truths of the Gospel. His own heavenly 
footsteps have been manifest on the earth, to teach erring mortals 
the way of life. The hills of Palestine have given echo to his 
voice as it was lifted for our spiritual instruction. For " God, who 
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the fa- 
thers by the prophets, hath in tliese last days spoken unto us by his 
Son, wliom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he 
made the worlds." 

This is one of the strong points of the Gospel's superior excel- 
lence, and which we will find further developed as we proceed in 
the Epistle. Whilst the revelations of God were delivered to the 
ancients by servants, the Gospel was delivered by the Son. Proph- 
ets were frail creatures; Christ was the all-perfect Creator. Proph- 
ets were all pensioners of Divine bounty ; Christ was and is the 
source of all blessedness. Prophets were mere men; Christ was 
" God manifest in the flesh." 



LECTURE I. CHAPTER I. 1,2. 



13 



But the superior excellence of the Gospel may be still further 
seen, in the place which it occupies in the sublime arrangements of 
God for the accomplishment of his eternal purposes. You will ob- 
serve that the apostle speaks of the Gospel dispensation as these 
last days?'' Called the last days, because occurring' at the close of 
the Jewish hierarchy, but more particularly, because not to be suc- 
ceeded by any further institutions of grace. This is the last and 
better covenant. Everything which preceded it was instituted with 
reference to it, and was only preparatory to its introduction. The 
Gospel is the complete embodiment of all the purposes of God with 
man. Without it, all former dispensations are perfectly idle and 
unmeaning. What was the significance of the promises and coven- 
ants made vvitli the patriarchs, if they did not centre in the New 
Testament institutions? What were all the bloody rites and ordi- 
nances of the Mosaic economy,, without tlie great sacrifice of Cal- 
vary.'' What the meaning of all those rapturous prophetic visions, 
if the kingdom of the Messiah were stricken from the annals of 
time.'' Nay, the Savior*'s cross is the great centre of all religious 
institutions, and upon which they all depend for their significance 
and efficacy. It is this which draws a chain of unity through all 
the pious observances from Adam down to his remotest generations. 
Everything preceding it, slowly but securely paved the way for its 
erection ; and upon tlie blood-stained brow of Calvary were con- 
verged all the hopes and interests of the entire family of man. With 
the ci'oss, all is harmonious and consistent; without it, all is dark 
and indefinable. Without the cross, the patriarch kneeling before 
his rude altar, and the successors of Aaron brightening the incense 
flame amid the blazing grandeur of the Holy of holies, is all mean- 
ingless and holy trifling. Without the cross, the enrapturing songs 
of Israel's inspired bards, and the visions of the exultings of the 
redeemed in their final rest, are all the senseless reveries of fevered 
brains! 

The Gospel of Christ then is to be looked upon as tlie finishing 
matter, which gives significance and virtue to all other dispensa- 
tions. It is the grand keystone of the wide arch which spans from 
eternity to eternity. Adam's eyes and hopes were centred on it, 
and the eyes and hopes of all the pious who lived before the Savi- 
or's coming. And from the remotest ages of time to come, every 
devout human worshiper will look back to it as his only depend- 



14 



LECTURE I. CHAPTER I. 1,2. 



ance for the enjoyment of the favor of the Almighty. It is the sole 
link which unites man to the throne of God. And by thus taking 
into consideration the importance of the place which it occupies, 
we cannot but ascribe to the Gospel a surpassing excellence and 
glory. The institutions of the ancients only compare with it, as 
the light of the moon compares with the brightness of the noonday 
sun — as the dim twilight of morning with the full blaze of a perfect 
day. God's communications to the fathers served them only as the 
star of Bethlehem did the Eastern Magi; they merely led the way 
to the Savior. But the Gospel places us at once at his feet, and 
within the hearing of all his heavenly instructions. And though 
we have no law graven by the hand of Deity on tables of stone ; 
we have it written on the more imperishable tables of the heart and 
of the mind. Though we have no such a temple as rendered Je- 
rusalem the praise of the whole earth ; we have one built up of 
"living stones," which wears a radiance far brighter than golden 
spires and gilded domes, where penitents find an ark, and wander- 
ing prodigals a joyful welcome and a peaceful home. Though we 
have no Shekinah hovering in visible grandeur over the mercy seat; 
yet we liave the Spirit of the Eternal ever brooding over each 
ransomed soul, and creating in every christian's breast a little 
heaven ! 

Such, my hearers, is the superior excellence of the Gospel of 
Christ, and of the dispensation of it under which we live. What 
a blessed privilege is ours ! I fear that we have not yet learned 
duly to appreciate it. I fear that we do not sufficiently prize our 
spiritual advantages, nor properly estimate our freedom from those 
long nights of gloom and burdensome ritual exactions which passed 
over former generations. Let us then carefully lay to heart these 
few reflections, and hencefortli endeavor to be more grateful to God 
for the marvelous light and liberty he has made it our privilege to 
enjoy. And may our gratitude not be only a dead letter, or some- 
thing which remains housed up in the heart and never reaching the 
surface; but a gratitude which leads to activity, and which speaks 
out in works of charity, honesty, and practical godliness. 

Let us carefully remember too, that increase of privilege always 
brings with it an increase of responsibility. The Scriptural rule 
is, to whom much is given, of him much will be required. As our 



LECTURE I. CHAPTER I. 1 , 3. 15 

advantages are great, a corresponding' degree of holiness will be 
exacted in our lives and conduct. See to it then that all our supe- 
rior blessings be well improved. And in the great day of final 
reckoning, may it be the portion of us all to be hailed by him that 
sits upon the throne as " faithful stewards of the manifold grace 
of God." 



LECTURE II. 



THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Heb. i. 3. Who, being the brightness of his glory, and tlie express image of his per- 
son, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when lie had by himself 
purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on iiigh. 

Atheism and. superstition are weapons in the hands of Satan, 
whicli have only been too successfully used against the christian 
religion. But these are not his most formidable arms, nor are they 
the most difficult to be resisted. There are other and more de- 
ceitful instruments at his command, much more subtle in their op- 
erations and threatening much greater mischief. There is in the 
world a system of error, which seems to be extracted from the very 
essence of reason and religion, and to proceed from the very bosom 
of truth and virtue. A system which, under the mask of piety and 
lofty pretensions to learning, would secretly undermine the very 
foundations of Christianity, and drain the very life-blood of our 
holy religion. I speak now of that system of Divinity which is 
characterized by its low views of the mediatorial work, and which 
tends to degrade the Savior from his proper and eternal Deity to 
the rank of simple creatures. The text comes in direct conflict 
with such views. It contains a brief but magnificent account of the 
infinite majesty of the great Redeemer's character; "Who, being 
the brightness of his (Father's) glory, and the express image of his 
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when 
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of 
the Majesty on high." 

These words obviously teach the Divine nature of Jesus Christ. 
This will be the more clearly perceived by some explanation of tfie 
phraseology employed by tlie apostle. And in speaking of Christ's 
Divine nature^ the expression is to be understood in a higher sense 
than where it is declared that believers are " partakers of a Divine 
nature.'' This is predicated of believers, because they are consti- 
tuted in a likeness to God, and because they are admitted to a bles- 
sedness resembling that of God. But when we ascribe a Divine 



LECTURE II. — ^CHAPTER I. 3. 



IT 



nature to Jesus Christ, we mean bj it, that he is of the same es- 
sence and existence with the Deity. 

The text represents the Savior to be " the brightness of his Fa- 
ther's gloryP'' The conception is highly sublime, and the allusion 
peculiarly happy. The relation of Christ to God the Father is 
compared to the relation which exists between the outbeaniing light 
of the sun, and that inherent brightness from which these rays are 
sent forth. Socinians affirm, that the Son of God was a created 
being, and that all his dignity and authority were delegated. We 
concede that the Father gives existence to Christ, just as the sun 
gives existence to its rays ; yet, that existence is so entirely the 
nature of the essence from which it proceeds, as of necessity to be 
co-existent with it. The sun can no more exist without shining, 
than its light can exist without the essence from which it proceeds. 
Precisely so is it in regard to the relation of Christ and the Father. 
There is such a complete oneness in the two, as to be inseparable. 
A God cannot exist in the dark retirement of his own being with- 
out being manifested ; nor can there be any manifestation without 
the Son, who is the outbeaming of the Divinity. 

To call Christ a created being, implies a time when he did not 
exist. The figure of the text, however, admits no such a supposi- 
tion. The sun and its rays are co-eval. It was no sooner made 
than it shone. This is in accordance with its nature ; nor is it pos- 
sible for it ever to cease shining until its nature is changed, oi it is 
itself destroyed. Thus it is in the relation between Christ and 
God. They are co-equal and co-existent. One is the outbeaming 
of the other — the brightness of the other's glory. The Father is 
not the Son, nor the Son the Father ; no more than the rays of the 
sun constitute the sun itself. Yet, there is such a unity of essence 
and existence, and they are so intimately and inseparably connect- 
ed, that both partake of the same Divine eternal nature. 

The apostle further declares Christ to be " the express image of 
his Father^ 'person f'^ or as in a parallel passage: '■Hhe form of 
God?'' These expressions embody nearly the same idea. The al- 
lusion is to that of a child bearing a perfect resemblance to its pa- 
rent, or that of wax retaining the perfect image or impress of the 
seal applied to it. In the same way Christ bears the perfect re- 
semblance of his Father. All the lineaments and characteristics of 
2 



18 



LECTURE II. CHAPTER I. 3. 



Divinity are in him. The perfections of God are in him ; the 
whole nature of God is in him ; and consequently he is Divine. 

I will now proceed to adduce a few scriptural fact's and circum- 
stances which go on to confirm these statements, and which to my 
own mind very conclusively prove the proper Deity of our Lord 
and Sa\ior Jesus Christ. 

1st. It is a matter so clear as to admit of no dispute, that the 
scriptures ascribe to Christ the sublimest works of God} Is creation 
the work of Divinity.-^ Who but the Omnipotent could rear the 
lofty pillars of this vast edifice Who but God could build the 
stupendous amphitheatre of heaven, or hang out those brilliant and 
enduring lamps of the universe ^ Everywhere are these things ap- 
pealed to as the work of an Almighty hand. "I am the Lord," 
says Jehovah, " that stretcheth forth the heavens alone ; and spread- 
eth abroad the earth by myself." And yet it is said, " all things 
were made by Jesus Christ, and without him was not anything made 
that was made," — that " by him w^ere all things created that are in 
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they 
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers." 

Is preservation the work of Divinity ^ Who but God can up- 
hold, preserve and keep the many worlds with all their multiplied 
and varied inhabitants In Nehemiah it is said unto God, " Thou, 
even thou art Jehovah alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven 
of heavens, wdth all their host, the earth, and all things that are 
therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and Thou preservest them 
ally Yet the text assures us, and the same is declared in other 
places, that Jesus " upholdeth all things by the w^ord of his pow- 
er," and that " by him all things consist." 

Is resurrection the work of Divinity ? Who but the great God 
can break open the massive doors of the grave, or wake the slum- 
bering dead from the sleep of ages } The scriptures declare it is 

God who quickeneth the dead." And yet the language of Christ 
is, "I am the resurrection and the life," "the hour cometh when 
they that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, 
and shall come forth." And he also proved his power to accom- 
plish this mighty work, by raising the son of the widow of Nain, 
and by restoring Lazarus to his weeping sisters. 

^ I am soracvvliat indebted for part of the following illustration of this subject to a 
Bennon by the Rev. D. Baker, of Savannah, Ga. 



LECTURE II. CHAPTER I. 3, 



19 



Is til e final judgment the work of Divinity ? The Bible says that 
" God himself is judge," " that Jehovah is our judge ;" and yet the 
same authority declares, that " we must all appear before the judg- 
ment seat of Christ ; that every man may receive the things done 
in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad." 

In what other way can these facts be explained, than by admit- 
ting that Jesus Christ is one with the Father? 

2nd. It is also very clear, that the Scriptures ascribe to Christ 
the sublimest attributes and perfections of God. 

The prophet Micah says of him who was to come out of Beth- 
lehem, " his gomgs forth have been from old, from everlasting." 
Concerning himself, he says, ''before Abraham was, I am." John 
says ''in tlie beginning was the Word — before anything was made 
— before all things — with the Father before the world was." In 
Revelations he is declared the " Alpha and Omega, the Beginning 
and the Ending — the First and the Last" — " the Living One." 
Is not this Eternity ? 

The Savior promises, " where two or three are gathered togeth- 
er in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Again : " Lo ! 
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Is not this 
Omnipresence ? 

The apostle in one place speaks of Christ in this wise, " Christ, 
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." "Pe- 
ter saith unto him, Lord, thou knovvest all things." The Evange- 
lists speak of him as perceiving the thoughts of men — knowing ali 
men, and what was in man — and as seaiching the hearts of men^ 
And on one occasion his apostles exclaimed, "now are we sure 
that thou knowest all things." Is not this Omniscience? 

The apostle declares Christ " able to subdue all things unto liim- 
self." He himself says, " I have power to lay down my life, and 
I have power to take it again." He is called " tlie head of all pow- 
er — far above all principality, and power, and might, and domin- 
ion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also 
in that which is to come" — yea, " the Almighty." Is not this Om.- 
nipotence ? 

In Hebrews w^e find it written, " Jesus Christ, the same yester- 
day, to-day, and forever." Is not this Immutability? 
And so we might go on, finding passage after passage, and cir- 



20 



LECTURE II. CHAPTER I. 3. 



cumstances abundant, which ascribe to Jesus Christ all the perfec- 
tions which adorn the character of God. " In him," says the apos- 
tle, " dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." All that the 
Old Testament affirms of Jehovah, the New affirms of Jesus Christ. 
How then shall this difficulty be reconciled ^ Is it not clearly re- 
vealed that there is but one living and true God ? What other les- 
son then do these facts teach us, what other lesson can they teach 
us, but that Christ is really of the same essence with God the Fa- 
ther — -that he was God manifest in the flesh .-^ If Christ be God, 
then it is proper and right to ascribe unto him all the perfections of 
God ; but if not, the sacred writers are to be chari>ed with mis- 
takeSj or designed misrepresentations, and therefore have no valid 
claims to inspiration. There is no stopping point between the De- 
ity of Christ and downright deism. 

3d. The Scriptures also ascribe to Christ the sublimest names of 
God. In numerous plac^es he is emphatically called God. John 
declares "the Word was God^ Paul calls him " God manifest 
in the flesh." David sang, "Unto the Son, he saith. Thy throne 
O God, is forever and ever." Isaiah in the prophetic annunciation 
of his Advent calls him " the mighty Gorf." Paul in Romans de- 
signates him as God over all, blessed for evermore." Tiiomas 
addressed Siim as his " Lord and his Gody 

Jehovah is another name used in the Scriptures to designate the 
Deity. " Seek ye him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and 
turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh tlie day 
dark with night, that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth 
them out upon the face of the earth ; Jehovah is his name." But 
this name is also given to Christ. In Jeremiah (xxiii. 5, 6.) we 
find this prophecy: " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign 
and prosper, and shall execute justice and judgment in the earth* 
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely ; and 
this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our Right- 
eousness." (See also Isaiah viii. 13, 14; xl. 3 ; vi. 3, compared 
wnth John xii. 41.) Christ is also called the Lord God of the Ho- 
ly prophets — the Lord from heaven — the Lord of lords and King 
of kings — the Lord creator of heaven and earth — one wnth the Fa- 
ther, &c. All this goes on to show that Christ really did possess 
a Divine nature. 



LECTURE II. CHAPTER I. 3. 



2t 



4th. It is also very clear to every reader of the Bible, that it 
ascribes to Jesus Christ the subliinest honors of God. 

Reason and Revelation concur in appropriating religious worship 
to God, who alone is possessed of those perfections which our ven- 
eration and prayers presuppose. Its confeiment upon any other 
object, is downright idolatry, and is the most severely tfireatened 
in the Scriptures. It was on a most memorable occasion the most 
solemnly enjoined upon all and every one, Thou siialt worship the 
Lord thy G-od, and him only shait thou serve." And yet we find 
Jesus Christ in numerous instances the object of the holiest rever- 
ence and the highest adoration. Twenty times in the New Testa- 
ment, grace, mercy, and peace, are implored of him together with 
the Father and the Spirit. Baptism is an act of solemn worship, 
yet it is performed in the name of the Son. Swearing is an act of 
worship when done in sincerity. But this solemn appeal is made 
to Jesus Christ. The committing of the soul to God at death, is 
an act of sacred worship ; and the dying address of the martyr 
Stephen was, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 

But hark, peans are ringing in glory to the honor of the once 
crucified, but now risen and exalted Son of God ! I heard the 
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living crea- 
tures, and the elders ; and the number of them was ten thousand 
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ; saying with a loud 
voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and 
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and bles- 
sing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, 
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them 
heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him 
that sitteth upoti the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.^* 

Such is the language of those who worship on high ; nor is the 
song of those who worship below any the less sublime. John, the 
exile of Patmos leads off the lofty shout of adoration, Unto him 
that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood — unto 
him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen." Were ever 
songs of sublimer praise sung by created lips! 

Nor was such Divine honor ever given with the approbation of 
heaven to a mere creature. Creature-worship is everywhere de- 
nounced in this holy Book as idolatry — as hateful to God, and ru- 
inous to the soul. Nor did any holy creature ever consent to re° 



22 



LECTURE II. — CHAPTER I. 3. 



ceive such sacred honors. When the priests of Jupiter brought 
c/iXi their oxen and garlands at the gates of Lystra, to sacrifice to 
Paul and Barnabas whom they supposed to be gods ; these holy 
men "rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying, 
sirs, why do ye these thing? ? We are men of like passions with 
you." When John fell down before the angel of the Apocalypse 
whom he mistook for the immaculate God, the heavenly visiter at 
once cried out " See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, 
and of thy brethren the prophets." But when Christ Jesus is made 
the object of such worship, not the least intimation is given either 
by himself or by his apostles that it was wrong, or that this hom- 
age was conferred upon an improper object. If he were not God, 
and not entitled to the same honor due his Father, would not that 
meek and lowly Jesus, jealous for his Father's rights, have decli- 
ned such holy honors, and indignantly repelled such gross idolatry ? 
But instead of rebuking, he everywhere encouraged it ; enjoining 
upon all to lift up holy hands unto him — to love him — to serve him ; 
promising at the same time all the joys of everlasting life to the obe- 
dient. 

These facts are very remarkable, and go on to confirm with a 
considerable degree of certainty the statement of the text, and to 
show that Christ is " the brightness of his Father's glory, and the 
express image of his person" — that he possessed substantially in 
himself all the perfections and consequently the nature of Divinity. 
Who will venture to criminate God's worshiping universe by de- 
nying it.? 

With these things all before us, I can see no difficulty as to the 
plain meaning of the Holy Scriptures. Not one reader in a thou- 
sand, unsophisticated by human theories, would fail to apprehend 
their true import, or receive any other impression than that Jesus 
Christ is a Divine personage. Suspicions I know have been cast 
upon many of the passages wiiich I have quoted as to the faithful- 
ness of their translation. But such representations bear upon their 
very face the strongest marks of improbability. It is not at all to 
be supposed, that a company of some fifty of the most learned Eng- 
lishmen in the reign of James I., after making individual transla- 
tions, and comparing and correcting by private conferences and 
public examinations before fixing upon a single passage, should 
have committed such glaring errors. But the providence of God 



4 



LECTURE II. CHAPTER I. 3. 



23 



has preserved unto us the original Scriptures in as much purity as 
they existed when the English version was made. And I pronounce 
the result of a patient and thorough investigation, as well as the 
almost unbroken opinion of ages, when I say, that the passages re- 
lating to the subject of the Savior's Divinity stand as fair as any 
other portions of the Bible. The texts upon which this doctrine 
rests, have been no more perverted than any others. And they 
prove to the conviction of every unprejudiced mind, that Jesus 
Cfirist performed the sublimest works — possessed, the sublimest 
perfections — bore tlie sublimest names — and received the sublimest 
honors of Divinity, and therefore must be Divine. 

5th. The remark of the text which represents Christ as " hav- 
ing purged our sins by himself^'''' comprises another argument for his 
Divinity. It is necessary that he should have a Divine nature, in 
order that he might till the office of Mediator. He who under- 
takes the mediatorship between offended God and apostate man, 
must take upon him the same nature which sinned. He must be 
related and that closely to those for whom he officiates. He must 
obey and magnify the law in the same nature which broke it. But 
it is equally necessary that he possess in connection with his liu- 
manity, a Divine nature to give mei'it to his obedience. Otherwise 
it would be no more than duty. He must have a human nature to 
have a brother''s heart; we need one who can be touched wath the 
feeling of our inhrmity. But he must also have an almighty arm 
to succor and to save. It is requisite that he be a man, in order 
that he might suffer. Divinity is impassible, and cannot be " wound- 
ed for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities yet " with- 
out the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." But he 
must be Divine to give efficacy to his sufferings. If he were a 
mere man, his atonement would avail nothing. The prophets and 
martyrs suffered much; their blood flowed in torrents; but all that 
could never cancel a single sin. It was Divinity in the Savior 
which gave to his blood its atoning and purging power. And 
though the Divine nature cannot suffer^ nor the suffering of human- 
ity merit ; yet it is by a union of these tw^o in the person of Christ, 
and by this union alone, that the case could be met, or our souls 
saved. 

6th. Compare now the doctrine which has been engaging our at- 
tention with the evangelical account of Christ's life, and see how 



LECTURE II. — CHAPTER I. 3. 



beautifully every thing harmonizes. Here we find circumstances 
of humility and circumstances of grandeur strangely but sweetly 
bk-nded together, indicating at the same time both the human and 
the Divine natures of the personage of whom they are predicated.^ 
Under the first view in which Christ is presented in the Gospel, we 
see him as a poor and helpless infant lying in a manger. These 
are circumstances pointing out his humanity. But mark the cir- 
cumstances of grandeur denoting his Divinity. Immediately an 
unusual star marches through the firmament to designate his birth- 
place, and the hosts of heaven strike up his loud natal anthem. 
Some time alter ward we find him going up to the temple to wor- 
ship as a man; and after the feast confounding the Jewish doctors 
with the wisdom of a God. At another time we find him standing 
at the grave of a departed friend weeping as a man; and then call- 
ing Lazarus from the tomb like a God. Again, we see him com- 
ing to the fig-tree hungering as a man ; and then blasting it with a 
word like a God. Storm-tossed and weary on the angry Tiberias 
we see him sleeping in the ship as a man ; and then rising and re- 
buking the winds and the sea like a God. Oppressed with the bus- 
tle of the crowd he retired to the mountain to pray as a man, and 
then at the fourth watcli of the night came walking on the water 
like a God. Nailed to the bloody cross he suffered as a man ; but 
opened the gates of Paradise to the dying thief like a God. We 
behold him at last in the rocky tomb, pale and mangled, in the 
grasp of death as a man; and then stirring with life — bursting 
open the bars of hell — in triumphant resurrection leading captivity 
captive — and ascending up in radiant majesty to heaven like the 
mighty God ! And thus " having purged our sins, sat down at the 
right hand of the Majesty on high." 

7th. In the conclusion of this argument for the Deity of Jesus 
Christ it may be observed, there are a number of passages in the 
Scriptures w^hich cannot be satisfactorily reconciled with each oth- 
er, but by admitting the doctrine for which I have been contending. 
For instance, in one place Christ is called a man^ in another place 
God — in one place he says, " My Father is greater than 1," in an- 
other, "I and my Father are one" — in one place he is called Da- 
vid's son^ in another David's Lord — in one place the Lamb slain^ 
in another the Prince of life who only hath immortality," &c. 



' See the sermon referred to in the previous note. 



LECTURE IT. — CHAPTER. I. 3. 



25 



Now upon the supposition that the doctrine of his Divinity be un- 
true, neither human nor angelic ingenuity could possibly reconcile 
these and such other passages of the Word of God. Some iiave 
attempted it by reducing the language of the Holy Ghost to a mere 
shadow ; but it never has been done, and it never can be done by 
a just and faithful exegesis. But when the doctrine of the text is 
received, all is harmonious and reconcilable. As respects his hu- 
man nature, Christ was a man. With regard to his divine nature, 
he was God. In regard to his humanity, he was subordinate to 
God the Father, the son of David, the Lamb slain, &:c. In regard 
to his Divinity, he is properly called equal with the Father — Da- 
vid's Lord — the Prince of life — and so on. Thus these texts are 
made to mean something — the credit of the Spirit in dictating them 
is preserved — and the wdiole is the most beautifully harmonized. 

It seems to me then, to be proven beyond rational controversy, 
that Jesus Christ, our adorable Lord and Savior, possessed a Di- 
vine nature in mysterious but all-harmonious union with his human- 
ity — that he is indeed, as I have explained it " the brightness of 
his Father's glory, and the express image of his person." 

That this doctrine involves mystery, all will concede. But it is 
none the more objectionable for that. Mystery in a thing is no 
ground for its rejection. Else would we reject the existence of an 
omnipresent and self-living God — the Divine decrees as not recon- 
cilable with human freedom — =the resurrection of the dead — ^a fu- 
ture existence — the union of soul and body — and even the incon- 
trovertible realities of our own being. All these matters involve 
mystery, mystery so profound that human sagacity cannot penetrate 
it. But having evidence of the facts we believe them, though un- 
able to explain their nature and circumstances. Why not then, hav- 
ing evidence of the fact, and every evidence too which we can con- 
ceive possible, that Christ is Divine, receive it also ^ This mystery 
of the incarnation is not a new discovery. It is an anciently conce- 
ded point. Paul said in his day, " W ithout controversy, great is the 
mystery of godliness; God was made manifest in the flesh." It is 
something which admits of no dispute. But if it is a mystery, it 
is one of which we need not be ashamed. It is a blessed mystery, 
full of sweetness as well as full of wonder. If we err in believing 
it, it is with Stephen when "full of the Holy Ghost," and with the 
whole apostolic church. Let us now then and forever cling to and 



26 



LECTURE II. CHAPTER I. 3. 



adore the Divinity of the Son of God. And if we are mistaken, 
it will be with the angels themselves, and all the ransomed hosts 
around the throne. 

And how greatly does the doctrine of Christ's Divinity tend to 
exalt our conceptions of Jehovah's love for our fallen world ! To 
think, it was not a mere 'nian who was so much interested for our 
salvation, but the eternal God ! It was the heart of the infinite 
Deity that beat with compassion for us poor and wretched offend- 
ers. And O, what must have been the amazing depths of that af- 
fection which brought down the Divinity from heaven to this sinful 
and sorrowful w^orld, for the purpose of rescuing the guilty from 
perdition! What love that could lead to so great a humiliation, or 
prompt to the endurance of so much shame and wo! What a sub- 
lime conception of goodness ! The incarnate Deity laboring — 
preaching — praying — weeping and dying for the recovery of the 
lost ! The fulness of Almighty grace moving to rescue the per- 
ishing ! The very heavens stooping to save an apostate w^orld ! 

" Oh, for such love let rocks and hills 

Their lasting silence break, 
And all harmonious human tongues 

The Savior's praises speak !" 

What secure grounds of confidence does the Savior's Divinity 
also furnish believers. It is not in an arm of flesh, my brethren, 
that we have reposed our trust. It is not upon the sand that we 
have founded our hopes, if founded on Jesus. Ours is a secure 
foundation, for we build upon the Rock of Ages. We know in 
whom we have believed ; how he is able to save even unto the ut- 
termost, all them that come to him. The rock which shelters the 
Christian is higher than we. Jehovah-Jesus is our God ; there 
, is no room for doubt or gloomy apprehensions here. None shall 
be able to pluck us out of his hand. Encompassed by his almighty 
arms we need fear no evil ; for " as the mountains are around about 
Jerusalem, so the Lord is around about his people from henceforth 
even for ever." No matter what furious convulsions shall be felt 
in heaven, earth, or hell— though the whole universe be thrown 
into disorder and anarchy, we shall still in perfect safety outride 
the storm, and live to chaunt the requiem of sepulchred nature. — 
Our Savior sways the mighty sceptre of a God, and our blood- 



LECTURE II. CHAPTER I. 3. 



27 



washed souls shall pillow securely beneath the sheltering wings of 
his Divinity. 

" Let mountains from their seats be hurled 

Down to the deep, and buried there ; 
Convulsions shake the solid world ; 

Our faith shall never yield to fear!'' 

How encouraging too, is the doctrine of Christ's Divinity for 
sinners to venture unreservedly upon him for salvation. Surely, if 
there be deliverance from sin any where, it is in Jesus. Being Di- 
vine, he is infinite in all those qualifications which we need in a 
Savior. Infinite in wisdom- — infinite in power — and infinite in good- 
ness, he is just such a helper as poor sinners need. May I not with 
the most unbounded confidence invite and exhort every unregener- 
ate man and woman to venture upon him. Sinner, come to Jesus — 
believe in Jesus — rely on Jesus. Commit yourself entirely into his 
hands — receive his teachings — obey his commandments, and you 
shall be saved. . Heaven shall be your home, and eternity the un- 
circumscribed theatre of your rejoicing. 

And may the Lord add unto these remarks his blessing, and bring 
us all finally to surround his throne in glory, where we will ascribe 
unto him blessing, and honor, and glory, for ever and ever. 
Amen," 



LECTURE III. 



Christ's super-angelic dignity. 

Heb. i. 4 — 14. Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheri- 
tance ohtaiiied a more excellent nanne than they. For unto wliich of the angels 
said he at any titne. Thou art my Son, this day have 1 begotten thee ? And again, 
I will '-e to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Sou.'' And again, when he 
bringeth in the first-begolten into the world, he saitli, And let all the angels of 
God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Wlio maketh his angels spirits, 
and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son, he sailli. Thy throne, O God, 
is for ever and ever ; a scefitre of righteousness is the sceptie of thy kingdom. 
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity ; therefore God, tven thy God, 
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, thou, Lord, 
in the begirming hast laid the foundation of the earth : and the heavens are the 
works of ihine hands : They shall perish; bat thou remainest ; and they shall wax 
old as doth a garment ; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall 
be changed : but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fall. But to which of 
the aiig. Is said he at any time. Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies 
thy footstool ? Are they not all rninistermg spirits, sent forth to minister for them 
who shall be heirs of salvation 

This passage might with propriety be considered another argu- 
ment for the Savior's Deity. The Jews had the most exalted con- 
ceptions of the excellence of angels. As we learn from some of 
the Rahinical writings, they even associated them with God in the 
creation, and interpreted that passage in Genesis, " Let us make 
man in our own image" as being addressed to them. The angels 
were the highest orders of created being of which they could form 
any conception. Every thing beyond angelic was considered eter- 
nal, worshipful, and Divine. When therefore, the apostle enters 
upon tlie proof that Christ is superior to angels, just so far as he 
succeeds in establishing this point, to the Jewish mind at least he 
also proves him to be the adorable God himself. 

But though this is a legitimate bearing of the argument, we have no 
means of determining positively whether this thought weighed any- 
thing upon the apostle's mind or not. If it did, it was not the only idea. 
The very obvious purpose for whicii Paul was writing, was to dis- 
suade his countrymen from their blind devotion to Judaism, and to 
raise in their minds a higher appreciation of the religion of Jesus. 
In order to this, his first attempt was to show that the chief minis- 



LECTURE III. CHAPTER I. 4 14. 



29 



ter of the Gospel was of a superior dignity to the prophets, who 
were the principal instrumentalities of all God's former communi- 
cations to mankind. Upon this point the Jewish zealots might have 
confounded his argument by recurring to the fact, that prophets 
were not the only agencies employed in the Old Testament dispen- 
sation. Beings of a far nobler order had been engaged in deliver- 
ing the Law. The voices even of celestial visiters were heard oc- 
casionally proclaiming sacred messages, and the feet of angels 
themselves had trod the earth to communicate the will of God to 
the fathers. In the words before us this objection is anticipated 
and fairly met. The apostle here proceeds to show from their own 
authorities, that Christ is even superior to the angels. 

1st. Being made so much better than the angels, as he bath by 
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." This more 
excellent name was that of " Son," or " Son of God," Several 
passages in the Old Testament are referred to, to show that this is 
a name which peculiarly and properly belongs to Christ. The first 
quotation is from the second Psalm, from which he also quoted as 
referring to the Messiah in his address in the synagogue at Anti- 
och. Here God the Father is represented as addressing Christ 
thus — Thou art my Son^ this day have I begotten thee." The 
next is made from the Lord's promise to David, recorded in sec- 
ond Samuel, of the son who should spring from his house, who 
should be so exalted in person, that Jehovah says of him — "I will 
be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a >S'on." From these 
texts it is clear, that the ancient Scriptures did designate the Mes- 
siah as the Son of God. And he is the Son of God in several 
striking respects. 

He is the Son of God by actual generation as respects his ap- 
pearance as God-man. He was really begotten to God without 
the intervention of any other agency. It was by an extraordinary 
and miraculous manifestation of Divine energy that he was conceiv- 
ed by the Virgin Mary, and was brought forth by her at Bethlehem 
the real and immediate Son of God. 

Christ is the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead. B}^ 
his resurrection the Lord declared him to be his Son. It will be 
borne in mind that Jesus was crucified and slain by the Jews as an 
imposter and blasphemer, because he had said that he was the Son of 
God. Now it was entirely impossible that God should work a mir- 



30 



LECTURE III. CHAPTER I, 4 14. 



acle to raise from the dead a wicked man. When therefore, he 
did raise hioi up, he demonstrated the Savior's innocence, and con- 
firmed the account which he gave of himself previous to his cruci- 
fixion. But the simple act of his resurrection entitles him to son- 
ship. He was born unto God from the dead. 

He is moreover the Son of God by inheritance." Paul had 
just declared him to be " heir of all things."" The lawful inheritor 
of every thing can be none other than the Son — the only Son. None 
else are entitled to so magnificent a legacy. As Jesus therefore is 
the heir of all things, so is he also the Son of Him who possesses 
all things. 

But he is more strictly and emphatically the Son of God by " eter- 
nal generation." He is declared in the Scriptures to be the Son 
from all eternity. There is no period in the past, however distant, 
when he was not the Son of God. How this can be, is a matter 
too deep for finite man to solve. Such knowledge is too wonder- 
ful for us, it is high we cannot attain unto it. And without darken- 
ing truth with an abundance of senseless words or subtle specula- 
tions, it is for us cheerfully to acquiesce in what revelation says, 
and reverently adore the Savior as the eternal Son of God. 

The Sonship of Christ then, is the first point of his superior ex- 
cellence to the angels. " For unto which of the angels said he at 
any time. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee And 
though it is true tfie angels have been called the sons of God," it 
was in an inferior and common sense, as the offspring of his crea- 
ting power. Never has it been said of those heavenly orders, that 
they were begotten of God ; never have they been proclaimed the 
sons of God by such a stupendous demonstration as the raising of 
Christ from the dead ; never has it been said that angels are heirs 
of all things ; and nowhere has eternity of sonship been ascribed to 
them. The highest name which they can justly claim, is that of 
ministers, or messengers. " And concerning messengers he saith. 
Who maketh the winds his messengers and flaming fire his minis- 
ters." (Campbell's rendering.) The title conferred upon them, is 
one conferred in common upon the tempest and the lightning. But 
whilst they are called messengers and servants, Christ is called the 
co-eternal Son of God. 

2nd. Christ is also superior to the angels in honor. He is even 
presented as an object of religious reverence, and that also for the 



LECTURE III. — CHAPTER I. 4 14. 



31 



angels themselves. V. 6. " And again, when he bringeth in the 
first begotten into the world, he saith. And let all the angels of God 
worship him." This text does not occur in its literal form in our 
version of the Scriptures, though tf»e substance may be gathered 
from the 97ih Psalm. The quotation is ver!)atim from the Septua- 
gint version of Deuteronomy xxxii. 43. though not very clearly 
translated into English. The Septuagint was the venerable Greek 
translation of the Old Testament made by order of Ptolemy Phila- 
delphus, and was the Bible mostly used in the time of Christ and 
his apostles. It is from this Paul quotes, " And when he bringeth 
again (or a second time) his first begotten into the world, (or land 
of the living, i. e. by his resurrection,) he saith. Let all the angels 
of God worship him." So infinilely more honorable is Christ than 
the angels, that even they are commanded to worship him. — 
Never were the angels presented as objects of sacred reverence or 
adoration, nor was their worship even by the inferior creation ever 
tolerated in the Divine administrations. 

3d. Christ also fills a higher office than the angels. The apostle 
quotes from the 4dth Psalm, where he is addressed by the Al- 
mighty as possessing a throne which is eternal in its duration, and 
holy in its nature. .''Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God 
is for ever and ever; a sceptred righteousness is the sceptre of 
thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; 
therefore God, even thy God, hatii anointed thee with the oil of 
gladness above thy fellows." From this we learn that Christ pos- 
sessed a regal dignity, and that more honorable than had ever be- 
fore been enjoyed. He was " anointed with the oil of gladness 
above his fellows." As mediator he combined in himself the three 
offices of prophet, priest, and king. Two of these had previous- 
ly been united in a few instances in the same person, but never three. 
Nathan was a prophet, and Nathan was a priest, but Nathnn was 
no king. David was a prophet, and David was a king, but David 
was no priest. But Christ held them all. He is our prophet to 
teach — our priest to atone for our sins — and our king to govern and 
reward us. And it was in this respect that he was exalted beyond 
all that had borne the regal, prophetic, or sacerdotal offices. 

The office of the angels, when compared to this, is low and 
. mean. While it is the undisputed prerogative of Christ to reign, 
it is for them to serve and obey. While Christ, unaided and alone, 



S2 



LECTURE III. 



, CHAPTER I. 4 14. 



wrought out a stupendous scheme of redemption for fallen man, and 
by an act of his sovereignty adopts all as his children who believe 
on his name, the angels are only " ministering spirits, sent forth to 
minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation." They are all 
iiiferior and dependent agencies, looking to Christ for their offices, 
their rewards, and their very being. So that whilst Jesus in the 
beginning laid the foundations of the earth, and spread abroad the 
heavens, ihey could do nothing but sing together and shout for joy, 
as they saw the worlds with their multiform inhabitants rolling from 
his creating hand. 

4th. Christ is superior to the angels in perfections. To make 
this appear, the apostle refers again to the Psalms, where omnipo- 
tence is ascribed to the Son. This supreme power is implied in 
several particulars. It is implied in creation. " And, thou. Lord, 
in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the hea- 
vens are the works of thine hands." Such a work required the 
exertion of almighty power. And if it required omnipotence to 
create, it also requires the same power to change. Yet it is said 
to Christ of the heavens and tlie earth, " as a vesture shalt thou 
fold them up, and they shall be changed." But never has such a 
perfection been ascribed to the angels, nor have they ever claimed 
And though they may have great power, it is a mere delega- 
ted and inferior power, and not omnipotence. 

The heavens and the earth as the work of Christ, also show his 
wisdom and skill. The works of creation display an intelligent 
contrivance which to man is unsearchable, and which the angels 
themselves find ample and delightful employment to search out. 
For though they have great capacities for knowledge, and take in 
more at a single glance than the most laborious student can acquire 
by years of painful application ; yet their wisdom is finite and lim- 
ited. In reference to that of Christ, however, Paul in one place 
exclaims, " O the depths of the riches, both of the knowledge and 
wisdom of God ! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his 
ways past finding out!" 

Immutability we find here also ascribed to Christ as a perfection 
not belonging to the angels. Of the things of creation it is said — 
" they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they shall wax old as 
doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they 
shall be changed ; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not 



LECTURE III. — CHAPTER I. 4 14. 



33 



fail." Every thing created is subject to mutability and decay. 
The hardest and firmest materials of our present system are con- 
stantly evincing signs of change. The mountains are ever wasting 
away their rocky heights. The winds scatter dieir dust through 
the valleys and the plains, and the rains wash away their sediment 
to the filling up of the ocean. Islands in the sea are continually 
appearing and disappearing. Man himself is a subject of mutation. 
His feelings — his views — his circumstances — his very nature is 
subject to change. Nor will the high heavens always remain the 
same. Even the angels change from perfection to perfection, and 
from one employment to another. But Jesus Christ is the same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever. With him there is neither varia- 
bleness nor shadow of turning. From everlasting to everlasting he 
is the same, and his years shall not fail. And what a happy thought 
is this to the tempted and sin-wearied of earth.'' How consoling 
the truth, that Jesus is always the same immutable Savior — that the 
love which brought him down to die for sinners still glows with the 
same warmth as when he first undertook our case — that his atone- 
ment is always the same sufficient and acceptable sacrifice — that 
his promises are never to fail — and that his willingness to receive 
the returning prodigal, and to save and glorify all who put their 
trust in him cannot change ! How blessed the reflection that " he 
keepeth covenant and mercy to a thousand generations and that 
amid all the new scenes and changes we may be called to pass, he 
will ever be our Almighty, faithful Savior! 

5th. Christ is also superior to the angels in exaltation. It is said 
of Christ, that " being the brightness of his Father's glory, and the 
express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word 
of his power; after he had by himself purged our sins, sat down 
at the right hand of the Majesty on high." He has been exalted 
to the highest dignity of heaven. But the apostle asks, To which 
of the angels said he at any time. Sit thou on my right hand, until 
I make thine enemies thy footstool ?" Such language had been ad- 
dressed to the Messiah, but never unto them. The highest exalta- 
tion of the angels is, to stand around the throne in his holy pres- 
ence, praising his name, and waiting to do his pleasure. "Are tliey 
not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall 
be heirs of salvation.?" 

The super-angelic dignity of Christ then, is a matter very con- 
3 



34 



LECTURE III. CHAPTER I. 4 14. 



clusively made out. And if the Jews could refer to the agency of 
angels in delivering the Law, Christians can point to one "made so 
much better than the angels," who has given us the Gospel. — A few 
remarks now upon the angelic ministry. " Are they not all minis- 
tering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of 
salvation.'"' 

The ministry of angels in the Gospel dispensation, is a matter 
very imperfectly developed in the Scriptures, and still more imper- 
fectly understood. And as our redemption would have been just 
as effectually accomplished if never a syllable had been uttered 
concerning it, it is of but little moment whether we trouble our- 
selves with its investigation or not. But as the subject here proper- 
ly comes before us, it will not be amiss to devote the remaining 
portion of this lecture to a few remarks which may be of general 
interest, and not without some comfort to the pious. In consider- 
ing this matter, we must guard against attributing to the angels any- 
thing that will interfere with the province of the Holy Spirit. The 
whole work of the sinner's salvation, from incipient conviction to 
the last stages of sanctification, is accomplished exclusively by the 
agency of the Spirit. The ministry of angels then, consists in, and 
must be confined to the following particulars: 

1st. Angels minister to our instruction in times of perplexity. — 
When Hagar fled into the w^ilderness from the severity of her mis- 
tress, and was so sorely perplexed as to be ready to give up for 
death, the angel of the Lord appeared for her direction. When a 
jealous Herod cruelly plotted the destruction of the infant Savior, 
the angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph and Mary, and direct- 
ed them in their perplexity to flee with the young child into Egypt. 
It was an angel directed the devout Cornelius to send to Jop- 
pa for Peter, who should relieve his mind from the perplexity which 
distressed him. And thus we may suppose that they minister now 
to the heirs of salvation. It may be imperceptibly to us, but none 
the less really, that they are engaged in directing our providential 
way, relieving us of many a perplexity which may lie in the way 
of our destined progress. 

2nd. The angels minister to our deliverance in times of danger. 
It is said in the Scriptures, that the angel of the Lord encampeth 
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." The prom- 
ise is " he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in 



LECTURE III. CHAPTER I. 4 14. 



35 



all tby ways." And we have instances on record in which these 
promises were verified, and that literally. " When Paul was tos- 
sing in a storm, on the billows of the Adriatic, a forlorn exile from 
his native land, and a poor despised prisoner, on whom the grandees 
of this world looked down with contempt, — one of these angelic 
beings * stood by him' during the darkness of the night and the war 
of the elements, and consoled his mind with the assurances of his 
safety." Righteous Lot was delivered from the destruction of Sod- 
om and Gomorrah by this very instrumentality. It was thus that 
Elisha was delivered from the Syrian army at Dothan. It was an 
angel that closed the jaws of the hungry lions to spare the life of 
persecuted Daniel. It was an angel that entered the dungeon of 
Peter, knocked off his fetters, and delivered him from the hands of 
his exasperated enemies. Nor has this promise of deliverance from 
danger by angelic instrumentality ever been abrogated. The same 
agency is now at work in the world — keeping and protecting the 
people of God — warding off disease, accident and death — limiting 
the rage and power of their enemies — and delivering them from the 
temptations of Satan. 

3d. The angels minister to our comfort in times of distress. It 
is their province to console and strengthen the afflicted and sorrow- 
ful. When Christ was tormented in the wilderness by a tempting 
devil, they came and " ministered unto him." And during the dark 
moments of his deepest agony, " there appeared unto him an angel 
strengthening him." These communications with the Savior con- 
sisted probably in the suggestion of consolatory thoughts — in di- 
recting his attention to the infinite glory which should result from 
his faithfulness, &c. And in the same way no doubt the angels are 
now employed comforting the distressed and afflicted christian. In 
times of despondency they direct our minds to the faithfulness of 
God, or bring to our recollection some joyful promise. In times 
of suffering and pain they remind us of the rest that remains for the 
people of God, and dispose us to patience by the consideration, 
that soon tribulation and suffering shall reach a perpetual end. Their 
agency may even extend to the actual removal of pain from our bod- 
ies, and of grief from our minds. 

4th. The angels minister to our release from tlie body and our 
admittance into heaven. This is very clearly taught in the parable 
of the rich man and Lazarus. It is said, that the beggar died, 



36 



LECTURE III. CHAPTER I. 4 14. 



and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." What are 
the precise offices which the angels perform for the dying saint, we 
have no means of knowing. Yet, such is the fact, the death-cham- 
ber of the righteous is lit up with the presence of heavenly orders, 
whose plastic hands support the sinking head — buoy up the depart- 
ing spirit, and smooth the dark declivity to the tomb. With his 
latest breath he sings : 

" Bright angels are from glory come ! 
They're round my bed, and in my room ! . 
They wait to waft my spirit home ! 

All is well. All is well ! 

And when the ransomed soul drops its clay tenement, it is borne 
amid the rustling of seraphic wings to its final resting place ! This 
has ever been a delightful thought for the christian. Says the poet, 

" 'Tis sweet to rest in lively hope, 

That when my change shall come, 
Angels will hover round my bed, 

And waft my spirit home! " 

In view^ of these remarks then, how entirely complete do we find 
the provisions for our salvation. There is nothing wanting. Am- 
ple arrangements have been made to meet every possible emergen- 
cy. Independent of Christ's great atonement — the gift of the Spir-. 
it — and the means of grace, there has been instituted an additional 
ministry, which surrounds believers with the guardianship of an- 
gels. How paternal is the Almighty's care for the good of his peo- 
ple, and how great is our encouragement to venture our whole in- 
terest into his hands ! How comforting too for those who are strug- 
gling through gloom, perplexity and pain for an inheritance in hea- 
ven, that the angels of tlie Lord are round about us to help us on 
our way ! Cold indeed must be the heart that is not warmed at the 
thought, that there are ties of sympathy which bind it to angelic 
excellence and celestial orders. Dead indeed must be the sensi- 
bilities and deep, the apathy that are not stirred with the reflection, 
that all heaven is in anxiety for our welfare. Pitiable indeed is the 
deluded skeptic, whose soul has never been refreshed with the en- 
trancing melody which rolls in endless numbers from the harps of 
seraphim, and who has nothing to cheer him in his last moments 
but the cold and comfortless idea of an eternal sleep. . Tell me not 



LECTURE III. — CHAPTER I. 4 14. 



37 



that I have no friends in heaven, and none that are interested for 
me there. Tell me not that angels do not guard my path waiting 
at last to waft me to my final home. Tear not away this fond staft 
which supports the feebleness of riven humanity. Pluck not this 
little treasure from the bosom of neglected poverty. Wrest not 
this crutch from the tremulous hand of affliction. Quench not this 
star which illumes the darkness of the grave. Hush not those sil- 
very voices which ever whisper to my soul—" come to glory — 
come to glory !" If my creed is vain, still let me live and die in its 
warm and soft embrace. Still let me revel on the thought, that an- 
gels eyes are on me. And when I die, I shall have the triumphant 
hope, that when I pass through the waters they shall not overflow 
me ! 

But whilst this doctrine is full of comfort for the pious, it is full 
of reproof for the careless and impenitent. The angels have ever 
been actively engaged and deeply interested in the work of man's 
salvation. Before the Savior's Advent, they performed a promi- 
nent part in all former dispensations. Since then we have accounts 
of many and important services which they rendered, in order to 
have the plan succeed and sinners saved. Though they had no 
personal interest at stake, yet their benevolence and sympathy was 
so strong, that they could not remain unconcerned or inactive. They 
look with interest upon the doings of the sinner, and tune their 
harps to songs of joy w^hen one returns in penitence to God. And 
if the angels are so much concerned for the redemption of sinners, 
should not sinners themselves be made to feel some anxiety on the 
subject.'' Shall the orders of glory be in agony for the sinner's re- 
covery, and he alone remain listless and unmoved } Has he noth- 
ing to win, or nothing to lose } Poor even to beggary, and star- 
ving, whilst everlasting riches and fulness are offered, and yet not 
be moved to put forth his hand and partake ? Sinner, look at the 
deep anxieties which angels feel for your salvation, and be alarmed 
and reproved. Are not the reasons for your awakening and dili- 
gent endeavors to be saved tenfold stronger than those which have 
awakened so great an interest in heaven } Can you rest wliile all 
those shining ones are in agitation for the good of your soul ? Is 
not your eternal all at stake.'' I pray you then, be admonished. — 
And may the Spirit of the living God breathe upon your deadness, 
and give you life, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 



LECTURE IV, 



THE CLAIMS OF THE GOSPEL AND HOPELESSNESS OF NEGLECTING IT. 

Hebrews ii. 1 — 4. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things 
which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them shp. For if the Avord 
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received 
a just recompense of reward ; how sliall we escape, if we neglect so great salva- 
tion; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto 
us by them that heard him ; God also bearing lliem witness, b.oth with signs and 
wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his 
own will. 

Strict arrangement would be likely to include this passage in 
the preceding chapter. The apostle had just been arguing that 
Christ was superior to the angels ; here we have a practical appli- 
cation of that proposition to the great purpose for which he wrote. 
This is done first by way of exhortatio7i^ and secondly by way of 
argument. Our attention shall first be taken up with the exhorta- 
tion — " Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the 
things which we have heard." 

The things here spoken of doubtless mean, what was spoken by 
the Son, as declared in the opening of the first chapter. This 
seems to be clearly intimated in what follows, where Paul speaks 
of " so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the 
Lord." " Salvation" is a term used in the Scriptures sometimes 
with a more restricted, and at others with a more compendious 
meaning. In the text it is obviously intended to signify the Gospel, 
in its widest sense. 

We then understand the apostle to exhort to a diligent attention 
to the Gospel of Christ. We are to listen to its instructions and 
inform ourselves of its teachings. This is a matter which the gen- 
erality of men are only too prone to neglect. Lamentable indeed 
is the indifference and inattention manifested toward the communi- 
cations of the Savior. There is scarcely a subject, however incon- 
siderable or trifling, so little regarded as the message of salvation. 
When an essay or treatise is written on some scientific subject, it 
is ardently sought for and greedily devoured. When some new 
work of fiction or romance is issued, youth and beauty, at the ex- 
pense of repose — sighs — and tears, pore with incessant eagerness 



LECTURE IV. CHAPTER II. 1 4. 



39 



over its sickly and corrupting pages. When literary lectures are 
given, the audiences are generally thronged ; when theatres are 
opened, there is scarcely room to accommodate the multitudes who 
press in ; whilst all is attention and intense anxiety to catch from 
the speaker's lips each word and syllable which is uttered. But let 
a serious work, or a scriptural dissertation be published, and it is 
soon sent away to the topmost or some obscure shelf to moulder 
beneath the thick dust of neglect. Let a sermon be preached, and 
except by a man distinguished for his eloquence, or by some pecu- 
liarity in the doctrines which he teaches, the congregations are or- 
dinarly small — the attention is languid — and the principal portion 
of the hearers are found possessed of such extremely treacherous 
memories, as to leave the sanctuary without being able so much as 
to recollect the text, much less the leading thoughts, doctrines, or 
duties presented. 

Quite a different state of things and course of conduct is made 
the subject of exhortation in the text. Men are to hear the Gospel 
with care — candor— and deep solicitude. The simple but sublime 
fact, that it is a message of grace from the supreme Sovereign of 
the universe to a province of perishing rebels, entitles it to such 
attention and regard. The infinite glory it reveals, with the trans- 
porting prospects which it holds out to the smitten sinner, strongly 
present its imperious claims, and press them upon us with peculiar 
emphasis. It is altogether the gospel's most righteous due, that we 
should study the blessed truths which it contains, and familiarly 
acquaint ourselves with the sublime doctrines which it teaches. 

But this giving the more earnest heed to the things which we 
have heard," implies something more than the mere outward hear- 
ing of the Gospel. It also conveys the idea of the diligent and 
conscientious practice of those sacred teachings. We are to give 
the more earnest heed to the practical observance of the things 
which we have heard. The religion of Jesus is a practical religion. 
And whether we contemplate the end at which it aims — the means 
which it employs — or the morality which it teaches, this stands out 
as a bold characteristic. The simple hearing of the word with the 
outward ear, whilst the heart remains unmoved, will profit nothing. 
" Not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of the Father which is in hea- 
ven." The mere theoretical knowledge of the truth, without its 



40 



LECTURE IV. CHAPTER II. 1 4. 



practical application to our feelings — lives — and general conduct, is 
of but little consequence. As well might we excuse the murderer 
because he knew that if he killed his neighbor he would be hanged, 
as to expect reward from God simply because we listened to his 
word without obeying it. The very devils have a more full and 
comprehensive acquaintance with the will of God than the wisest 
saint; but devils do not practice obedience thereto, and what does 
their knowledge avail them. There must be a conformity of all the 
feelings of our hearts, and of the whole deportment of our lives to 
the .teachings and requisitions of the Gospel. And " if ye know 
these things, happy are ye if ye do them." 

But now for the arguments by which this exhortation is enforced. 
Why give this diligent and earnest attention to the things which we 
have heard ^ What motives are urged for the study and practice 
of the precepts of religion ? The first reason why we should ear- 
nestly attend to the Gospel, is drawn from the loss which the neg- 
ligent must inevitably sustain. We must give heed, " lest at any 
time we should let them slip." Notwithstanding all that has been 
done for our salvation, there is still a possibility of our coming short 
of eternal life. It is not absolutely certain because a Savior has 
been provided, that all will be saved — or because a Gospel has been 
proclaimed, all will reap its benefits. Like the waters of the stream, 
the season and the privileges of salvation will glide away from the 
careless, and the messages of truth fade fruitlessly from their mem- 
ories, leaving their souls in darkness profound as though not one 
single ray of heavenly light had ever reached our benighted world. 
The fact that Jesus came from heaven to speak to the fallen progeny 
of Adam will not save us, unless we heed his instructions. And 
though the consolations of the Gospel are free and abundant — 
though the waters of life are sending forth their purling streams 
through all the earth, making glad the solitary place, filling tlie des- 
ert with fragrant bloom, and waking up the voices of thanksgiving 
and praise at every advance — though the angel of mercy as he flits 
along the course of time cries to every successive generation, " Ho 
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters;" yet shall we pine 
away and die unless we give the most earnest heed. Though the 
Divine messenger has visited our prison — thrown open its massive 
doors — -broken the chains that bound us — and rung the joyful tid- 
ings in our ears, Go forth to light, and life, and liberty ! Yet shall 



L.ECTURE IV. CHAPTER II. 1 4. 



41 



we sink to the g-rave beneath our irons, unless we heed and obey 
the voice. All the instructions — comforts — benefits — and great re- 
dennption of the Gospel will pass by the negligent, without inspir- 
ing one glad hope, or iniparting the least substantial joy. 

If then there be anything in the Gospel deserving of our consid- 
eration V if there be any virtue in its provisions — anything substan- 
tial in its comforts— any thing desirable in the ineffable joys and holy 
associations of the heaven which it holds out to our hopes,. surely 
there is reason for giving it our attention. To neglect it, all this 
must be lost. And it is in consideration of this incalculable loss — 
the loss of Jesus and of heaven, that we are to give the more earn- 
est heed to the things which we have heard. 

But this is not the only motive which the apostle urges for obe- 
dience to his exhortation. He refers also to the positive and inevit- 
able punishment which the negligent must incur. " For if the word 
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and dis- 
obedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we es- 
cape, if we neglect so great salvation ; which at the first began to 
be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by Ihem that 
heard him, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and 
wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
according to his own will." Paul's argument here is of that kind 
which logicians term " argumentum a fortiore." He first affirms a 
thing which his readers admitted to be true under adverse and un- 
promising circumstances, and thence argues that the same fact is 
far more credible under likelier circumstances. If transgression 
and disobedience received their merited punishment in inferior and 
imperfect dispensations, as they really did; how confidently may it 
be inferred that sin and neglect of duty will be justly punished in 
the more complete and holy economy of the Gospel } If the an- 
gelic ministry was steadfast, and its neglect provoked the wrath of 
God, how shall we escape if we neglect the ministry of the Son of 
God ? 

In order then to the more effectual elucidation of the apostle's 
meaning, it will be important for us to dwell a little upon the point, 
that the Gospel scheme is a superior scheme — a great salvation. 
Upon this point I have already had occasion to make some obser- 
vations.^ But there are still a few additional considerations to which 
I will here refer. 

'Lecture First. 



42 



LECTURE IV. — CHAPTER II. 1 4. 



1st. The superior greatness of the Gospel may be seen in the 
universality of its application. All former religious institutions 
were restrictive in their regulations. In the Mosaic economy, none 
but the members of the Hebrew nation — none but the circumcised 
and the initiated could participate of its blessings. But the provi- 
sions of the Gospel are free as the air we breathe, and extend to 
all who will accept or receive them. It is one of the distinguish- 
ing and blessed features of the New Testament, that it knows no 
restrictions, and has no territorial limits. Christ Jesus has tasted 
death for every man. The benefits of his mediation are confined 
by no boundaries, no seas, no landmarks. They extend to polar 
realms and equatorial climes, overlook all national distinctions, and 
cover the entire area of the world. With Jesus there is ^' neither 
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision. Barbarian, Scy- 
thian, bond nor free." The blessings of his atonement extend as 
well to the Hindoo — to the Chinee — to the African — to the savage 
inhabitants of the isles and the mountains, as to the Jew who trod 
the sacred walks of Jerusalem, or to European kings amid the glory 
of their palaces. In every land, and isle, and mount, and vale, 
everywhere that living man has set his foot or sinful wretch is found, 
the Gospel extends its saving efficacy, and proclaims to the believer 
a free and full salvation. Nor is there any want either natural, 
spiritual, or social, in the whole catalogue of human infirmity and 
need, which it does not provide for. Every tear of anguish it wipes 
away. Every pain it either removes or alleviates. And every 
wound of bruised and suffering humanity it kindly binds up and 
heals. So that looking at the universality of its application both as 
respects all men, and as respects all the wants of men, we may well 
call it a "great salvation." 

2nd. The great expense at which the Gospel was procured and 
salvation provided also tends to enhance its greatness. It was not 
by an easy process, or by a little expenditure that the work of re- 
demption was accomplished. It has cost more than arithmetic can 
calculate or finite mind conceive. As to the labor bestowed upon 
it, multiplied thousands including angels — patriarchs— prophets — 
priests — and kings have lived and toiled for its completion. The 
Son of God himself also gave it years of personal and unceasing 
attention and labor. As to self-denial, it cost the Savior the unac- 
countable humiliation of a temporary resignment of his seat in glory, 



LECTURE IV. — CHAPTER II. 1 4. 



43 



an assumption of a frail and death-stricken nature, and the deep 
abasement of living- with the vile in a world of sorrow and finally 
dying as a doomed malefactor among thieves and murderers. As 
to pains and sufferings both of body and soul, it cost the Lord Jesus 
maltreatment and insult of every imaginable character — all the dis- 
tresses attending a life of abject poverty — the cruel harasses of a 
tempting devil — and all the woes of a despised and homeless outcast. 
Nor was this all. Let the blood-tinged rocks of Gethsemene re- 
peat the tale of suffering Avhich there oppressed and wrung his 
soul — let the hill-tops of Calvary tell the unpitied agony which 
pierced and crushed him there until the valleys echoed with his 
bitter groans; and then let the estimate be made of the dying Re- 
deemer's grief. And as to the price that was actually paid in ad- 
dition to all this, all the treasures in the mineral kingdoms of a 
thousand worlds cannot fully represent. It was a great — an incal- 
culable — a matchless price. It was the price of blood ! Not the 
blood of bulls, or of goats, or of the cattle upon ten thousand hills. 
It was a price which exhausted the treasury of heaven, and drained 
the last life drops from the bleeding heart of the Son of God! 
Such was the cost of our redemption. Looking then at the heavy 
expense of its procurement, surely it is to be regarded as a great 
salvation." 

3d. The greatness of salvation will further appear from the mira- 
culous works required for its permanent establishment. Dr. Young 
in his Night Thoughts, remarking on this point, says — 

" For this, laws from the skies were pubhshed, were repealed 5 

On earth, kings, kingdoms rose, kings, kingdoms fell ; 

Famed sages lighted up tiie pagan world ; 

Prophets from Zion darted a keen glance 

Through distant age ; saints travelled ; martyrs bled ; 

By wonders, sacred nature stood controlled ; 

The livmg were translated ; dead were raised ; 

Angels, and more than angels came from heaven; 

And O ! for tl)is descended lower still !'' — 

It was by numerous ^' signs and wonders, and with divers miracles 
and gifts of the Holy Ghost," that the church of Christ was plant- 
ed in the world. Prophecy, that intellectual miracle by which the 
mind is made to pierce through the dark vista of coming time and 
lay open to preceding generations the mysteries that are to follow, 
with the complete fulfillment of all its minutiae — the Savior's strange 



44 



LECTURE IV. CHAPTER JI. 1 4. 



conception — the angelic annunciation of his advent to the. shepherds 
of Judea — the voices from the clouds which were heard approba- 
ting his course — his transfiguration on the mount — the terrible signs, 
darkness, earthquake, rending of the tombs and the temple's veil — ■ 
the startling events of his resurrection and ascension, were all pro- 
digious exhibitions attending the first institution of Christianity. And 
divers other wonders, for the most part accompanied by the voli- 
tions of Christ and his apostles, of a more simple character, are 
also to be taken into the account. The blind were made to see — 
the lame to walk — the deaf to hear — the dumb to speak — the sick 
were healed — multitudes were fed and satisfied with morsels — the 
mad and furious elements were tamed — devils were cast out — the 
territories of death were invaded — and the putrid dead were stirred 
to life. All this was connected with and necessary to the establish- 
ment of the Redeemer's kingdom. And in view of such wonders, 
how justly is the Gospel called a " great salvation." 

4t}i. But the real magnitude of this salvation is only to be esti- 
mated by its underived efficacy and blessed results. The virtues 
of all other availing institutions of religion have been derived. They 
are something extraneous to the systems themselves. The orig- 
inal organization of the church of God on the other side of the 
flood, with all its subsequent ritual changes, depended entirely for 
its efficacy upon the virtues of the New Testament provisions. No 
acceptable services were rendered, no ceremonial was profitably 
observed, no sinner was pardoned or saved, but upon the virtues of 
the long-promised redemption of the Gospel; This salvation how- 
ever, is altogether sufficient in its own underived and intrinsic pow- 
er. And as to the blessedness of its results, Paul himself, aided as 
he was with his "visions and revelations of the Lord," faltered be- 
neath the conception of their glory, and merely exclaimed, " so 
great salvation.''^ Look, my hearers, at the miseries from which it 
delivers. First sum up all the sorrow, despair, remorse, and dy- 
ing agony of a. guilty world as endured this side the grave; then 
look at the woes of a coming eternity. Go in imagination with the 
only less than inspired Pollok down the dark, eternal, uncreated 
night to the barren territory of the damned. Look upon that lake 
of burning fire, with tempests tossed perpetually, where overhead, 
and all around wind wars with wind — storm howls to storm — light- 
ning, forked lightning crosses — -thunder answers thunder muttering 



LECTURE IV. CHAPTER II. 1 4. 



45 



sounds of sullen wrath ; and see earth's stricken nfiillions wandering 
through all that dungeon of unfading fire, burning continually yet 
unconsunaed, for ever wasting yet enduring still, dying perpetually 
yet never dead. Listen to their curses loud, and blasphemies which 
make the cheek of darkness pale — their groans that end not — and 
sighs that always sigh without relief or intermission. Follow tliem 
still through all the indescribable and increasing woes which eter- 
nity has in reserve for them ; then tell if you can the blessedness of 
a complete redemption. Who can estimate " so great salvation." 

Look next to the joys which it secures — the happy tone wbich 
it gives to human society — the peace of conscience it produces— 
the consolation it affords— the blissful hope it inspires even in this 
world, and then the untold joys of the heaven it has rendered at- 
tainable. Aye, let your fancy rest upon those innumerable multi- 
tudes around the throne, with whited robes, and glittering crowns, 
and waving palms. Hear their triumphant songs as lifted in loud 
hosanna to their king. See how every heart is big with rapture, 
and every breeze is laden with the overflowing joy — how every 
landscape glows with gladness, and all the hills and vales of heav- 
en ring with shouts of "Alleluia! salvation and blessing, and hon- 
or, and glory unto the Lord God and unto the Lamb." Whilst 
from every quarter of the far distant skies the loud " Amen, Allelu- 
ia !" is echoed back to swell the mighty anthem that sounds for ever 
and ever. Follow them on in their course of ever augmenting joy, 
until with Paul you are compelled to admit that ''-eye hath not seen, 
nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived" the extent of their 
blessedness ; nor even then can you form a full idea of so great 
salvation. Its lengths and depths, and breadths and heights, are 
all past our knowledge. The apostle with all his supernatural ac- 
quaintance with spiritual things, did not attempt to designate the 
boundaries of its magnitude. But after the loftiest flight and widest 
grasp of his imagination, he still saw new beauties, wonders, and 
sublimities spreading before him which no language or thought 
could reach, yea, so overwhelming was the contemplation of its 
glory and magnificence, that his only and faltering exclamation was 
— " so great sa lvation V 

The conclusion from all this is, that if there be any religion in 
the world worthy of serious attention, it is the religion of the Gos- 
pel ; and that if under those former imperfect dispensations every 



46 



LECTURE IV. — CHAPTER IT. 1 4. 



transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of re- 
ward, how utterly out of the question that those should escape the 
Divine wrath who offend against or neglect so great salvation. If 
every act of impiety was justly punished when duty was not so 
plainly laid down, nor the motives to obedience so imposingly pre- 
sented, how can vengeance slumber when deviations are made and 
guilt perpetrated amid the meridian blaze of a perfect revelation 

And that " the word spoken by angels was steadfast," we are 
not left without reason to believe. The Scriptures on this point 
are not silent. Instances of the most fearful character are record- 
ed for our profit. Noah was an angel or messenger of the Lord 
sent to preach righteousness to the wicked antediluvians, and to de- 
clare unto them the Divine purpose concerning them. And though 
he manifested his sincerity in the preparation of the ark, the people 
only despised his prophesying and rendered additional insult to 
God. Nor did he pass by their disobedience as a light affair; but 
to demonstrate the steadfastness of Noah's words, he arose in the 
fierceness of his wrath — threw open the windows of heaven — broke 
up the foundations of the deep — rolled out its angry waters over 
every city, plain, and highest mountain peak — and hushed every 
blaspheming voice beneath the laving billows of an ocean world ! 
Most of the communications given to Moses were given through the 
medium of angels ; yet they were steadfast. Not only were the 
ofienders excluded from the land of promise, but were cut ofT in 
the wilderness by plagues and judgments the most distressing. Sod- 
om and Gomorrah had also heard the message of angelic visiters, 
but having mocked and despised it, Jehovah has shown its stead- 
fastness by consigning them to a woful oblivion. Nor was there 
any transgression or disobedience which did not receive its just 
recompense of reward. Flow then can they escape who neglect 
so great salvation Is not the case made out that they cannot es- 
cape ? Aye, it is not with the spirit of inquiry alone, but of inqui- 
ry under the deep conviction that no answer can be given, that the 
apostle exclaims, Hoio can they escape ? Their ruin cometh like a 
whirlwind, and their damnation like the lightning in fierceness. 

How can they escape ? They have had time, opportunity, and 
motive enough ; the means were amply suthcient, and the calls to 
penitence sufficiently urgent ; everything which rational man could 
desire they had proffered them. Having then neglected and slight- 



LECTURE IV. CHAPTER II. 1 4. 



47 



ed it all, upon what imaginable basis can they found the slightest 
hope of escape ? The condition of that man is hopeless enough 
against whom the Divine holiness and justice are opposed ; but 
when mercy itself lifts up her voice in condemnation, his whole sky 
is covered with darkness more intense than that of Egypt. Whith- 
er will he fly? If he ascend into heaven, God is there. If he go 
down to the depths of hell, God is there to pour upon him the vials 
of wrath. If he call upon the rocks to fall on him and hide him in 
the darkest cavern of the earth, even there will the fierce glare of 
Jehovah's eye flash terror to his guilty soul. Wherever he goes 
an omnipresent and avenging God is by his side. Everything by 
which he is surrounded stands ready to cut him down. In what- 
ever direction he looks, all is blackness, tempest, and wrath. How 
can he escape ? 

And precisely such, impenitent man arnd woman, is the hopeless- 
ness of your condition. Such is your impending doom. However 
upright you may be in the eyes of the world, if you are only re- 
gardless and indifferent to the claims of so great salvation, it is 
enough to seal your everlasting ruin. It is not necessary that you 
should be a giant in wickedness — ^that you should lie, cheat, swear, 
steal, murder, or be an avowed infidel, in order to be damned. 
Simple " neglect" will do it. It is not so much your monster sins, 
as neglect of so great salvation, that is peopling the world of per- 
dition. Neglect — not giving heed to the things which we have 
heard, is what bars the heavens against you. This is the sin, how- 
ever small it may appear, which has furnished hell wit!i victims, 
and which will sink some who hear me to the same dark realm un- 
less you speedily repent. 

Esteem it not then a feigned anxiety, or a hypocritical zeal in 
me, when I urge upon you by all these awful considerations to com- 
nience the work of your repentance at once. There are other 
points upon which I would much more fondly dwell, but the hope- 
lessness of your condition out of Christ calls for this train of re- 
marks. Then neglect no longer so great salvation. You have al- 
ready neglected long enough. The extremity of your case de- 
mands immediate action. Take heed, I most earnestly beseech 
you, take heed to the things which you have heard ; " for if the 
words spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and 
disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we 
escape, if we neglect so great salvation ?" 



LECTURE V. 



Christ's humiliation ko ground of contempt but encour- 
agement. 

Heb. ii. 6 — 18. For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to 
come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is 
man, that thou art mindful of him.? or the son of man, that thou visitest him.' 
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory 
and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands ; Thou hast put all things 
in subjection under his teet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he 
left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put un- 
der him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the 
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by thegrace of God 
should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all thmgs, 
and by whom are all things, in -bringing many sons unto glory, to niake the cap- 
tain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and 
Ihey who are sanctified are all of one : for which cause he is not ashamed to call 
them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of 
the church will I sing, praise unto thee. And again, 1 will put niy trust in him. 
And again, Behold 1 and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch 
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himsell likewise took 
part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of 
death, that is, the devil ; And deliver them who through fear of death were all 
their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on hhn the nature of an- 
gels ; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it beho- 
ved liiin to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faith- 
ful high priest in things pertaining to God, to niake reconciliation for the sins of 
the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to suc- 
cour them that are tempted. 

After the moving appeal made from the proposition of Christ's 
superiority to the angels contained in the preceding verses, the 
apostle still seems to apprehend some objection in view of the fact, 
that Christ made his appearance in human nature, and was subject 
to all the reverses, privations, and sufferings of humanity from which 
angels were exempted. Unwilling then that the conclusion of his 
foregoing argument should be the least modified or broken in its 
force, by any misapprehension of the incarnation of the Savior, he 
proceeds to show in the text, that his humiliation and suffering, in- 
stead of being a ground for his rejection and contempt on the part 
of those to whom he was preached, on the contrary furnished mo- 
tive and encouragement to embrace him and to rely on him. 

In the first place, he shows from an inspired description of the 
original dignit}^ of humanity, that Christ considered merely as a 
man, was but little if any inferior to the angels. " But one in a 



LECTURE V. — CHAPTER II. 5 18, 



49 



certain place (Ps. viii. 4 — 6.) testified, saying, What is man, that 
thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 
Thou madest him a little lower than the ang-els ; thou crownedst 
him with glory and honor, aad didst set him over the works of thy 
hands ; thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in 
that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not 
put under him." 

From this ^ve see, that in point of rank, man was created but lit- 
tle inferior to the angels. " Thou madest him a little lower than 
the angels." He stands next in the scale to celestial orders, infe- 
rior to them only as respects his connections with the gross mate- 
riality of earth, and inferior to them only for a time. For the Sa- 
vior has declared that the children of the resurrection shall be 
" equal unto the angels." (Luke xx. 36.) 

Nor was he created only with a noble nature, but was crowned 
with " glory and honor." This may refer to his high mental and 
moral endowments, being made " wnser than the beasts of the field 
and the fowls of heaven," — or to the sweetness, beauty, and glory 
of his primeval habitation, — or to those holy communications of 
light and hope which were kindled by the finger of God in his 
heart, — or w^hat is more likely, to all of these particulars compre- 
hended under a single view. 

Man was also invested with^the supreme dominion over the 
things of this world. " Thou hast set him over the works of thy 
.hands ; thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet." And 
thousfh we do not now behold him in the full exercise of such an 

o 

authority — though " we see not yet all things put under him," and 
animals and elements still resist his control ; it is only because this 
dominion was broken and abridged by his fall and defection, and 
not because it was not originally conferred upon him. In Genesis 
it is written : " And God said, Let us make man in our own im- 
age, after our ow^n likeness, and let them have dominion over the 
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, 
and over all the earths This is a grant which the angels never 
had. " For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world 
that was to come, of which I am now^ speaking." (Stuart's trans- 
lation.) It is something however to which the Savior's humanity 
fully entitled him, and that consequently he was very little, if any- 
thing inferior to the angels even under that partial view which ex- 
4 



50 



LECTURE V. — CHAPTER II. 5 — 18. 



eludes any direct reference to his Divinity. And looking upon the 
language of the Psalmist by way of prophetic allusion, as applying 
more eminently to "the Son of man" who was to spring from him, 
and understanding " the world that was to come" of which Paul 
speaks to refer to the Gospel kingdom, the conclusion is the same. 
God has never committed the jurisdiction of the church into angels' 
hands, nor delegated to councils, bishops, cardinals, or popes, the 
dominion of the christian dispensation. But inasmuch as he has put 
all things in subjection to the Son of man, he left nothing that is 
not put under him. Hence this same Jesus who was born at Beth- 
lehem and crucified on Calvary, God hath made both Lord and 
Christ. He has conferred upon him a dignity and authority, which 
presents him under a more imposing attitude than had he been an 
angel. 

In the next place, the apostle shows, that in augmentation of the 
dignity thus belonging to the Savior, he possessed an additional 
honor as the reward accruing to him from his mediatorial work. 
" But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels, 
on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, 
after that by the grace of God he had tasted death for every man." 
And the crown of glory and honor which has been placed upon the 
Redeemer's brow as the reward of his humiliation and suffering for 
the salvation of the guilty, is great, rich, and eternal. No human 
capacity can measure its excellence, or human tongue express the 
fulness of its glory. Whilst on earth we but see through a glass 
darkly, and know but in part ; yet the Savior's official honor as 
contemplated by us now, is infinite and ineffable. The heralds of 
his glory comprehend all orders of existence, and throng all por- 
tions of the universe. The Father has honored him. He honored 
him with the endowments of his Spirit at his baptism. He honor- 
ed him with cheering messages of commendation from the clouds 
of heaven. He honored him with the transporting vision of his 
own unveiled Divinity on the mount. He honored him with his 
presence in the gloomy silence of the grave, and raised him up in 
triumph over death and hell. He honored him with an exaltation 
to the right hand of the Majesty on high, " far above all principali- 
ty, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is na- 
med, not only in this world, but also in that w^hich is to come." — 
The angels have honored him. They honored him with songs and 



LECTURE V. CHAPTER 11. 5 18. 



51 



joyous shoutings at his birth. They honored him with their attend- 
ance — their sympathies — and their kind offices in his temptation 
and his agony. They honored him by tearing open the rocky doors 
of his sepulchre, and heralding to his friends the glorious tidings of 
his resurrection. They honored him with the presence of all their 
glittering trains at his ascension, and lent their heavenly attend- 
ance in his exultant flight to the seat prepared for him in the skies. 
They honored him w^ith their reverence and obedience in minister- 
ing to his saints. And according to the visions of John, they still 
praise and honor him in view of the mighty work which he accom- 
plished, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
honor, and glory, and blessing." Men^ too, impelled by a sense of 
gratitude for the inappreciable benefits of his mediation experienc- 
ed by their souls, have come from all directions under heaven to 
lay their sublimest honors at his feet. Around his infant head in 
the manger of Bethlehem the eastern Magi bowed in reverence for 
his name. On his first presentation in the Temple, the devout Si- 
meon and Anna were there to receive him with blessing and honor. 
When he approached the Baptist of Jordan to be officially inducted 
into priestly orders, John shrunk back in reverend awe of his great- 
ness. Though his pilgrimage through earth was lowly and despis- 
ed by the haughtiness of worldly dignity, his path was neverthe- 
less set with pure and humble-hearted worshipers who enveloped 
him in the incense of their devotions and their grateful praise. The 
whole faithful church since the great pentecostal revival at Jerusa- 
lem, has been crying with united heart and continuous voice — " Un- 
to Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
and hath made us kings and priests unto God ; to Him be glory and 
dominion for ever and ever, Amen." Nor is there any period in the 
future, however distant, when exulting ascriptions of blessing and 
honor shall cease to ascend to the praise of his mighty name. 

Such then being the glory and honor resulting to Christ by vir- 
tue of his mediatorship, the conclusion is obvious, that though he 
be a mere m,an, he nevertheless far excels in dignity the highest 
order of angelic excellence. So far then from the circumstance of 
his humanity and suffering tending to degrade him, they are the very 
causes of his exaltation, and impose upon the Jews and upon us 
obedience to his teachings by considerations of honor and glory far 



52 



LECTURE V. CHAPTER II. 5 — 18. 



above those which the ministry of angels had thrown arouad the 
ancient ceremonial. 

The third consideration by which Paul vindicates the humanity 
and suffering of Christ from any degrading imputations, relates to 
the propriety of this very plan of humiliation and suffering to re- 
deem the world. " For it became him, for whom are all things, 
and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to 
make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. — 
For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of 
one : for which cause," &c. 

1st. It became the all-perfect Sovereign and Proprietor of all 
things, as he condescended to provide salvation for man, to provide 
a perfect Savior. As there is nothing wanting in the wisdom, pow- 
er, and goodness of God, it was proper and becoming in him " in 
bringing many sons to glory," to adopt a perfect plan — perfect in 
its arrangements — in its operation — and in its efficacy. Any thing 
imperfect, or in any way defective would have been unworthy of 
the character of Jehovah. But in making a scheme of redemption 
perfect, it was necessary that the great agent of the enterprise be 
made to endure suffering. He could not complete the work with- 
out it. It was written in the law, and uncompromisingly insisted 
on by justice. " Without the shedding of blood there is no remis- 
sion of sins." If man is saved, his deliverer must suffer, or justice 
must. But justice is immutable and inviolable, and suffering is the 
only alternative. If Jesus therefore had not suffered to the satis- 
faction of the entire penalty of the law, his atonement would have 
been insufficient, redemption at best would have been but partial, 
and the failure would have reflected seriously upon the sovereign 
God who devised it. But not so is Jehovah to be censured. And 
by thus looking at his character, and at the nature of the case, ev- 
ery one will see at once a peculiar fitness and propriety in the plan 
apparently so degrading, and that it entirely becomes his perfection. 

2d. But not only so, the apostle. shovv^s further that the ancient 
Scriptures, to which the Jews were ready to ascribe the very high- 
est authority, spoke both of the Savior, and in the name of the Sa- 
vior, in terms which plainly involved his humanity and suffering ; 
and that from this consideration also, though he were a mere man, 
and did suffer intensely and die shamefully, he was nevertheless en- 
titled to their confidence and acceptation. " For both he that sane- 



LECTURE V. CHAPTER II. 5 18. 



53 



tifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one ; for which cause 
he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will declare thy 
name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise 
unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Be- 
hold, I, and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch 
then as children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself 
took part of the same ; that tlirough death he might destroy him 
that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them," 
&c. Whether all these quotations when they were originally 
penned were intended by the Spirit to be prophetic of Christ, or 
whether the apostle by an argumentum ex concessis merely wish- 
ed to employ the opinions of his opponents against themselves with- 
out vouching for the precise accuracy of that particular application 
of all the passages alluded to, has been much debated by exposi- 
tors, and involves much difficulty to decide. But whether we con- 
sider the manner in which the passages are applied from Paul, or 
from his Jewish antagonists, their point in this connection is clear 
and unaltered. That Christ was a man, none in the days of the 
apostles would venture to deny. This fact the Jews endeavored to 
construe into an argument against his Messiahship. These passa- 
ges then are adduced to show, and do most conclusively show, that 
there was good Scriptural authority to resolve all doubt and con- 
troversy as to this point — that the prophets spoke of him as a man, 
and that this was no tenable ground upon which to base their op- 
position to his authority and claims. 

3d. The apostle finally shows, that the humanity and sufferings 
of Christ were the very things which accommodated him to our cir- 
cumstances and wants. Or in other words, that the propriety of 
the plan is further to be inferred from its adaptation to the end pro- 
posed. " Besides, he surely doth not succor the angels, but he help- 
eth the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him 
to be made like unto his brethren ; that he might be a merciful and 
faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconcili- 
ation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffer- 
ed, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." — 
And this is the most blessed thought in the whole argument. Like 
a brilliant ray from the throne it falls upon our path, throwing its 
hallowing light on every object of hope, and kindling up joy and 
gladness in every considerate heart. And in order to let our souls 



54 



liECTURE V. CHAPTER II. 5 18. 



repose a little in the delightful sunshine, let us spend a few thoughts 
in contemplation of our need, and the ample provisions of Divine 
grace for our relief. 

The most deplorable feature of our fallen condition is our utter 
guiltiness, and our utter obnoxiousness to the Divine perfections. 
That we are sinners is a matter recorded in history — declared by 
revelation — and felt in all human experience. Though " God made 
man upright, he has sought out many inventions" of evil. However 
bright and promising were the first openings of his existence, he 
has blighted the fairest ornaments of his nature by his disobedience 
and continued transgression. The diadem that sparkled on his 
brow when his Creator first pronounced him lord of the earth, has 
lost its lustre. In every faculty of his soul he has become depraved 
and polluted. Our sins are written out in the sweat — tears — pains — 
and dying groans of suffering humanity, and in the travailing pangs 
and convulsive throes which disturb the peace of all creation. 
Death — temporal — spiritual — eternal, is the sentence under which 
we all by nature rest. See then the glory and fitness of the plan 
in the exact adaptation of Christ to save us from our sins. Two 
considerations show that human nature in our Redeemer is utterly 
indispensable. First, there was a specific kind of punishment to 
be endured for which no other nature was qualified. Part of the 
penalty was the separation of the soul from the body ; but man 
alone is possessed of such a compound nature, and therefore could 
not have met this feature of the penalty. Secondly, it is a peculi- 
-arity in the Divine government, that the ends of justice require iden- 
tity of nature in the offender and his Redeemer. Any thing else 
would destroy the personality of guilt, and all our ideas of moral 
government. The sentence was pronounced upon man, and the full 
execution of it could only be had by the death of man. The suf- 
ferins: of no other nature would have met the case. How dear then 
to the sinner should be the humanity of the Savior! It is the very 
qualification which our case requires. And instead of making it a 
subject of contempt, ought we not rather to adore that matchless 
compassion which led him to the assumption of all the infirmities of 
mortal nature, only that he might the more eflectually secure our 
salvation. Surely this is a fit and a glorious plan ; for see 

Again how it lifts up our hopes by making Christ a faithful 
high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for 



LECTURE V. CHAPTER II. 5 18. 



55 



Ihe sins of the people." No one fully understands our wants or 
our situation, without being a man, and moving in the walks of men. 
We have many feelings which are peculiar to ourselves, and which 
no other order of beings can enter into. We have fears and fore- 
bodings of wrath — we have sensations of despair and hopelessness 
which none but such as have felt them can properly appreciate. 
Paul struck upon this chord of human experience when he spoke 
of the unregenerate, as being through fear of death all their life- 
time subject to bondage." How important then again is the hu- 
manity of the Savior — that he should experience as we do the trials 
and woes of life — that he should feel himself every pang of our 
helplessness ; and hence the more sensibly feel the deep necessity 
for the strictest fidelity in the discharge of the duties of his office. 
" Here was a race of sinners and sufferers. They were exposed 
to the wrath of God. They were liable to everlasting punishment. 
The judgment impended over their heads, and the day of vengeance 
hastened on. All now depended upon the great High Priest. All 
their hope was in his fidelity to the great office which he had un- 
dertaken. If he v/ere faithful, all would be safe ; but if he were 
unfaithful, all would be lost. Hence the necessity of entering fully 
into the feelings, fears, and dangers of man ; that he should become 
one of the race, and be identified with them, so that he might be 
qualified to perform with faithfulness the great trust committed to 
him."i No other plan can be conceived better adapted to impress 
our mediator with so lively a sense of the urgent necessity for un- 
flinching fidelity in our behalf; and certainly none more desirable 
and blessed in the view of a suffering world. For mark 

Further, how it enlivens our sympathies and encourages our faith 
in having rendered Christ a merciful and brotherly Savior. " For 
in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor 
them that are tempted." By our sins we have brought upon our- 
selves such a moral weakness that renders it almost impossible for 
us to do a good deed, or think a good thought even with all the 
gracious helps by which we are now surrounded. Our affections 
have been so long accustomed to run into a wrong channel, that 
even after our change it is exceedingly difficult to prevent their re- 
turn. With all the strength that we are able to call into requisition, 
the world still exercises a power over us which we can scarcely 

^Barnes' Notes, in loc. 



56 



XECTURE V. CHAPTER II. 5—18. 



resist. We are driven hither and thither almost entirely at the 
mercy of the storm. But Jesus, having in reality a nature like 
ours, experienced our infirmities, and himself passed through the 
fiery ordeal of this world's w^oe, knows how to pity us, and how to 
feel for us. Having passed through similar temptations and revers- 
es, and weathered similar storms, he " can be touched with the 
feeling of our infirmities." As one that has himself been afilicted 
is better able to sympathize with the suffering, — or as one that has 
been bereft of tender relationships is better qualified to give conso- 
lation to the mourning; so Jesus, having gone through all the ills of 
life, and dwelt under the heavy clouds which hang over all the 
walks of human existence, has a heart that beats in sympathy for 
those who are struggling here over rocky heights and stormy seas. 
There is not a pain the christian pilgrim feels, but Jesus helps to 
bear it. There is not a fear which rises in his breast, but Jesus 
helps to calm it. As a fond mother hangs with tears over the bed 
of her suffering child, so the compassionate Savior bends from be- 
tween the cherubim over his afflicted children on the earth. Nay, 
his sympathy is still more intense ; for a woman may forget her 
child, but Jesus can never forget those who put their trust in him. 

" His heart Is made of tenderness. 
His soul is filled with love." 

Let no inglorious imputation then attach itself to the apparently 
humiliating plan of human redemption. Christ indeed was a man, 
he was born like a man, he lived like a man, he suffered as a man, 
and he died as a man. But instead of being ashamed of such a 
truth, we proclaim it upon the housetops, we throw it upon the 
wings of the winds to be borne to the four corners of the earth, as 
the sweetest hope to the bleeding and despairing world, and as the 
most glorious truth that has ever reached the ear of man. Christ's 
humanity is not only one of the grand foundation stones upon which 
the edifice of our salvation is built ; but it is the only tie that links 
us to the throne. It is this that encourages us to hope that we shall 
find a welcome reception when we come to the mercy-seat ; that 
we shall find help in the day of trouble, and a friend when all oth- 
ers forsake us. This is the great — glorious — inexpressibly hopeful 
mystery of godliness, " God manifest in the fieshy 

Go then, christian sufferer, tossed by temptation and vexed by 
sore troubles, go to Jesus. " For in that he himself hath suffered. 



'J 



LECTURE V. — CHAPTER II. 5 18. 



57 



being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." In him 
you will find a brother's heart, and from him you will receive a 
brother's welcome. Look not to common man for help — rest not 
your hope in earthly friendships — expect no warm beating sympa- 
thies from the chilled affections of worldly philosophy. These 
shall all one day fail you. But go in your tribulation to your elder 
brother on the throne, and he who tempereth the winds to the shorn 
lamb, will keep the waters from overwhelming you. Go lean upon 
his arm. Remember that there is no region of trial and affliction 
where he has not gone beyond you ; and no dark paths of sorrow 
which he has not trod before you. Go then, go daily, go always, 
" casting all your care upon him ; for he careth for you." 

And you too, poor — afflicted — wearied sinner, go to Jesus. It 
was not the righteous, but sinners that he came to save. It was for 
you he quit the heavens, assumed humanity, suffered, wept and died. 
Nor will he spurn your suit if pressed upon him now. He knows 
your troubles — your disappointments — and your mental anguish. 
He has felt the heavy burden which now weighs you to the earth. 
He has a heart to feel, a tear to shed, and a hand to extend for you. 
And in the melting sweetness of his compassion, he holds out to 
you the blessed invitation — " Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Come, weeping sin- 
ner, come ! 

Come ye disconsolate where 'ere ye languish, 
Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel : 
Here bring your wounded hearts — here tell your anguish, 
Earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal. 
Here see the bread of life ; see waters flowing 
Forth from the throne of God, boundless in love ; 
Come to the feast prepared ; come ever knowing 
Earth has its sorrowsj but heaven can remove." 



LECTURE VI. 



Christ's superiority to moses. 

Heb. iii. 1 — 11. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, con- 
sider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faith- 
ful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For 
this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath 
builded the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is builded by 
some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily icas faithful in 
all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken 
after", but Christ as a son over his own house ; whose house are we, if we hold fast 
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm uwto the end. Wherefore (as the 
Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in 
the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness : when your fathers 
tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore 1 was grieved 
with that generation, and said. They do alway err in their heart ; and they have 
not known my ways. So 1 sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 

The Jews were a people who greatly prided themselves in their 
religion. ' First, because it had been given through the instrumen- 
tality of distinguished prophets and holy angels. In the preceding 
chapters the apostle endeavored to show, that in this respect chris- 
• tianity suffered nothing by comparison, since it had been communi- 
cated by one who was superior to the prophets, and \Yho ranked in 
dignity and honor far above the angels. Next to this, they valued 
their religion because it had been imparted by so distinguished a 
personage as Moses. To that eminent man of God they looked 
with pride as the founder of their economy, and the medium through 
whom Jehovah had delivered the law. Next to him, their high 
priest was regarded as the most important functionary in the nation. 
Having no conception of any form of true religion where the im- 
portant office of priesthood was not recognized, they considered 
this another grand distinguishing feature of Judaism, and something 
which justly entitled them to supremacy. The apostle comes then 
to show, that in these respects also the christian religion does not 
sink in comparison, inasmuch as it was founded by one superior to 
Moses, and could point to a priesthood far more excellent and hon- 
orable than any previous order. In- the chapter before us, and part 
of the succeeding chapter, Paul enters into a formal comparison 



LECTURE VI. CHAPTER III. 1 11. 



59 



between Christ and Moses, for the purpose of exhibiting more 
strikingly the superiority of the former, and impressing the conse- 
quences following the establishment of this fact. 

You will observe here, as the only instance in the Bible, that our 
Savior is called an " ApostleP The word literally signifies a mes- 
senger — one deputed for the transaction of any important business. 
The reason of its application to Christ is not so much to designate 
his character or dignity, as to designate his relation to the new 
economy. Paul is just about to introduce a comparison of Christ 
with Moses ; and as Moses was the apostle — sent to be the curator 
(Bdis sacrce of Judaism, so Christ was the apostle — the commis- 
sioned president and director of the affairs of Christianity. The 
idea is, that Christ bears the same relation to the Gospel, that Mo- 
ses bore to the law ; both held a high and Divine authority, and 
both were occupied with the most important trusts relative to this 
world's interests. 

To a consideration of this heavenly legate, Christ Jesus, and 
his desert of their confidence, St. Paul very affectionately in- 
vites the attention of his readers. " Wherefore, holy brethren, 
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High 
Priest of our profession." Do not suffer your prejudices to 
run you into inconsiderate denunciation of his claims. Do not 
hastily or rashly decide against him. As brethren with me of the 
chosen family of Abraham, suffer me to persuade you to ponder 
well everything which relates to the rank and authority of the min- 
ister of this new economy. 

The first reason which he presents why they should give this at- 
tention and consideration to the claims of Christ, is his equal faith- 
fulness with him to whom they were so much attached, and in whom 
they so much prided. " Consider the Apostle and High Priest of 
our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appoint- 
ed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house." And here I 
shall have to ask your indulgence with a few more extended re- 
marks. 

1st. Moses was faithful in the fulfillment of ancient promises. 
About five hundred years before Moses, the Lord made a covenant 
with Abraham, the grand progenitor of the Hebrew race, promis- 
ing in one feature of that covenant that his natural seed should be 
increased in numbers like the stars of heaven, and that he would 
give them possession of the goodly land of Canaan. And though 



60 



LECTURE VI. — CHAPTER III. 1 11. 



Abraham did for a while reside in this country ; yet by a succes- 
sion of strange occurrences, his descendants became residents of 
the land of Egypt. During their sojourn among these strangers, it 
so happened that they became the servants and the bond -slaves of 
the Egyptians, and were subjected to the most tyrannical oppression 
and barbarous indignities. Just at the time of their greatest suffer- 
ing, Moses, who was the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, was 
called and Divinely commissioned to fulfill unto these afflicted .He- 
brews the promises which God had made to their fathers. To this 
appointment Moses was faithful. He was the agent in breaking 
the yoke of their oppressors — he brought them to the promised 
inheritance — and every promise made unto Abraham concerning 
their redemption, and independent national glory, was faithfully ful- 
filled by him. 

Nor was the Apostle of our profession any the less faithful in 
this particular. Ancient promises more glorious than those relating 
to earthly possessions had been made, which he fulfilled to the let- 
ter. Promises which were the hope and consolation of all ages 
and generations. Promises which were the only source of comfort 
to Adam and Eve as they turned from their last tearful look on 
Eden. Promises which served as the brightest lamps in the ark, 
as it rocked over the shoreless waves of an ocean world. Promis- 
es which gave to the first rainbow its fairest hues, as it bent over 
the smoking altar where Noah bowed in praise for his deliverance. 
Promises which charmed Abraham in the house of idolatry, and 
led his pilgrim steps from the land of Ur to the heights of Heb- 
ron — which shone in the serene imasrination of Isaac briohter than 
the evening stars — supported the dying head of Jacob better than 
his staff— and caused Joseph to turn away from the royal mauso- 
leums and crave as a resting place for his honored bones some sylvan 
haunt in the land of the redeemed. Promises which fired the hearts 
of Moses — Isaiah — David — all Judea's minstrels — as they swept 
from inspiration's harp those living anthems which filled the Taber- 
nacle — the Temple~all Jerusalem — -all earth — all heaven with per- 
petual praise ! These promises, constituting the only ray of light that 
for forty centuries broke through the midnight gloom which blacken- 
ed the whole canopy of our smitten world, were all faithfully fulfilled 
by Jesus Christ. He was himself the great subject of promise. 
He was " the seed of the woman" — the " branch from the stem 



LECTURE VI. CHAPTER III. 1—11. 



61 



of Jesse" — the " Shiloh" of prophecy — " the sun of Righteous- 
ness" — and the Prince of Peace." And the crushing of the Ser- 
pent's head— the limitation of Satan's power — the opening of the 
fount for the washing away of moral pollution — the sheathing of 
the swords of the cherubic guards of Paradise — and the lifting up 
of the everlasting doors for the admission of the ransomed into the 
kingdom of glory — all date their accomplishment from the work of 
Jesus. He also was faithful as was Moses. 

2nd. Moses was faithful in the discharge of the duties of his of- 
fice. Though it was an undertaking of great difficulty, requiring 
great self-denial and moral courage; yet, he faithfully performed 
the work. Though it required the relinquishment of his royal title, 
and all the wealth and honor of a mighty empire ; he cheerfully 
gave it up, " choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of 
God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Where there 
was unrighteous opposition he boldly confronted it ; where there 
were ignorant prejudices and heartless murmurings, he stood up 
against them. And on all occasions, and amid all circumstances, 
he was faithful to the great mission which he had undertaken. 

But as respects this point, Christ also was faithful. Though his 
work required much greater self-denial and still more daring cour- 
age — a self-denial which could lay aside the imperial robes of 
heaven, and turn from the happiness and glory of the highest world 
to the misery and meanness of the blasted habitation of mortals — 
and a courage w^hich could face the furious tempests of infinite 
wrath, and undertake to endure in one pang that intolerable weight 
of anguish which an eternity of intensest suffering only could have 
expended upon the guilty wwld ; yet, he was faithful in every par- 
ticular, and to every claim. He cheerfully resigned his heavenly 
dominion and glory — took upon him the sorrows and afflictions of 
human life — marched calmly up into the face of the violated law — 
laid bare his breast to the angel of justice — stept in between the 
guilty sinner and his angry God — and even bowed his neck to the 
bloody heel of death, faithful in all things, and faithful to the last 
extremity. There was no duty relating to his office which he did 
not perform ; and no object of his mission w^hich he did not fully 
accomplish. Every needful work he did ; every necessary truth 
he revealed ; every sin repented of he rendered pardonable ; and 
for every soul he has opened the prison doors, and rendered eternal 
salvation possible. 



62 



LECTURE VI. — CHAPTER III. 1 11. 



3d. Moses was furthermore faithful to the confidence of his peo- 
ple. He did not deal with them as a designing impostor. He Tvas 
true to the best interests of all those who confided in him as a man 
of God. None were losers by following his directions. And 
though many of the disobedient and unbelieving did perish in the 
wilderness ; yet, all who complied with his commands, and accepted 
of his instructions were cheered at every point with the evidences 
of Divine favor, and finally entered upon their promised posses- 
sions. 

But in this respect again, the Savior was not a whit behind the 
Jewish leader. He also was true to the confidence reposed upon 
him as the Son of God, and the promised Messiah. No depend- 
ence or hopes which have been built upon him in the way described 
in the Gospel, have ever failed. Many have trusted in him and 
were blessed. It was written that he would " save the people from 
their sins and none who have ever gone to him for relief or for- 
giveness, have been turned empty away. To every one making 
application to him, he has shown himself faithful to save even unto 
the uttermost. Whilst he walked the world, the guilty were cheer- 
ed with the assurances of pardon — the afflicted were healed — and 
the . lamented dead were called back to the warm embraces of 
wounded friendship as the preliminaries of still more stupendous 
acts of salvation. And the redemption joys that have swelled the 
bosoms of those multiplied thousands who constituted the church 
in all past ages, and of those still more nunierous multitudes to 
which the finger of prophecy points us, all testify to his unimpeach- 
able fidelity to those who have believed in him. He also was faith- 
ful as was Moses. If then the faithfulness of the ancient prophet 
entitled him to the veneration of his nation, and his teachings to 
their acceptation ; Christ Jesus for the same reason has an equal 
claim upon their attention and obedience, and the attention and obe- 
dience of all men. 

A second particular noticed by the apostle with a view of pres- 
sing Christ upon the consideration of his brethren, is his superiority 
to Moses. " For this man was counted worthy of more glory than 
Moses, inasmuch," &c. You will observe here, that it is not by 
the degradation of the prophet that the Savior is exalted. The 
eminence and distinguished honor of the Jewish law-giver are fully 
admitted. Every just claim to venerable distinction is fully con- 



LECTURE VI. — CHAPTER III. 1 — 11. 



63 



ceded to him. He was faithful, and he is duly credited for it. But 
after making a full admission of his commanding eminence, Paul 
still contends that the Lord Jesus is entitled to superior honor. 

1st. Because he was the great founder of the family of which 
Moses only formed a part. " For this man was counted worthy of 
more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who builded the house hath 
more honor than the house. For every house is builded by some 
man ; but he that built all things is God." Several important pro- 
positions, some asserted, and some implied, are contained in this 
passage, which will the more forcibly exhibit the writer's argument 
by a more distinct statement. The first point stated as a basis, is, 
that all houses must have their architects; or, taking the term 
" house''' in its metaphorical sense, that every family or church must 
have its founder. This is a truism about which there is no room 
for dispute. The next proposition is, that the builder of a house 
is more to be venerated than the house itself; or that the head, 
founder, or curator of a family, society, or dispensation is more 
honorable than any member or instrumentality of that family — so- 
ciety — or dispensation. This is also a fact which admits of no con- 
troversy. Again, it is assumed that Christ Jesus is the author of 
all things, and particularly of all institutions of true religion. The 
general proposition is contained in chap, i. 2, and is here repeated ; 
" but he that built all things (and consequently all Divine religious 
institutions,) is God." And though it is not expressly stated, it is 
evidently intended that the Divine appellation is to apply here to 
" the Apostle of our profession." The conclusion then is, that Je- 
sus is the great originator of both houses ; i. e. of the Jewish 
economy, and of the new dispensation. It was the same voice 
which called Abram from the haunts of idolatry, and his degener- 
ate posterity to repent and prepare for the kingdom of God. The 
same authority commissioned Moses from Horeb's fiery bush, and 
sent forth the sorrowing apostles from Jerusalem to preach the 
Gospel to the guilty world. The same sovereign majesty pro- 
claimed the statutes of the decalogue from the thunder shaken tops 
of Sinai, and published the universal edict from the gloom of Cal- 
vary, that men should every where repent. Being therefore the 
prime author of the Jewish, as well as of the christian church, his 
superiority is at once manifest. Moses now instead of appearing 
to be the founder of the sacred family of the Jews, was only an 



64 



LECTURE VI. — CHAPTER III. 1 11. 



honored member of that family; and instead of being the original 
author of the Hebrew religion, he was only a delegated instrument 
through whom it was delivered. 

2nd. Our Savior was superior to Moses as the son and legal in- 
heritor of the house he founded, and over which he presides. Mo- 
ses was merely a " servant.'^'' The Hebrew Scriptures almost in- 
variably speak of him as the " servant of the Lord." He was em- 
ployed only as a subordinate agent to communicate the will of God, 
and to attend to such duties as were necessary for the accomplish- 
ment of His purposes. Hence the apostle remarks, " Moses verily 
was faithful in all his house as a servant^ for a testimony of those 
things which were to be spoken." He was not the original head 
or author of the dispensation which he represented — not the framer 
of that church or house ; but a steward in the employ, under the 
direction of, and accountable to another. He owned nothing, ex- 
ercised only a delegated authority, and at best was only a servant. 

The fidelity of Christ however, was not the fidelity of a ser- 
vant ; but that of " a son over his own house." The sonship of 
Christ had already been presented as an instance of his superior 
dignity, and has heretofore been explained. It is here again allu- 
ded to, to show that unlike a mere servant, he is placed over the 
whole arrangements of the household, and has all intrusted to him 
as his own. Hence he is to be looked up to by all with superior 
respect. All the honor — all the praise — and all the glory result- 
ing from the agency of Christianity in the world belongs to him. — 
Being its founder, governor, and prospective proprietor, all that 
have tasted of its sweets since the utterance of the first promise in 
Eden — all those ancient worthies who with an eye of faith look 
through dark futurity to prophetic accomplishments and were blest 
— with all the ransomed millions who drank of Shiloh's fountain 
since Mount Olivet smoked with his blood — all look to him with 
ascriptions of immortal blessedness and high renown. No glory 
like this ever encircled the brows of Israel's leader ; and no such 
dignity was his. But whilst he was an honored instrument^ Christ 
was the more excellent originator ; whilst he was in the house as 
one of the family, Christ was over it as its sovereign ; whilst he 
was a servant^ Christ was the son and heir ; and whilst he was in 
the house another^ Christ was in his own house^ the source of all 
its blessedness, and the object of its holiest and highest praises. 



LECTURE YI. — CHAPTER III. 1 11. 



65 



Such ihen being the superior dig-nity of the Apostle of our pro- 
fessioii,'' how worthy is he of consideration and confidence? and 
how much more weighty the reasons for acceptance of his salva- 
tion, and obedience to his instructions, than those which wedded 
the Jews to the institutions of Moses. Hence the solemn appeal, 
" Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, to-day if ye will hear his 
I'oice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of 
temptation in tlie wilderness ; when your fathers tempted me, and 
saw my works forty years : wherefore I was grieved with that 
generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart ; and they 
have not known my vrays, So I sware in my wrath, they shall not 
enter into my rest "' 

Several very important reflections present themselves from a 
review of this passage, only a few of which it is competent for me 
here to introduce. 1st. It is prominently set forth in these words, 
that it is our imperative duty, and the business of all intelligent 
creatures, to hear and heed the voice of God. This was a duty ex- 
acted from the Jews when Jeliovah's voice received utterance by 
the mouth of Moses ; and liow much more reasonable and binding 
is the obligation, when that same voice is uttered by the Son who 
claims supremacy to Moses .' Xor can any circumstances relieve 
us from this obligation. Our relation to him as Creator imposes 
it. The infinite perfections, majesty, and glory of his nature im- 
pose it. Our entire dependence upon him for all our comiorts and 
hopes both for this life and the life to come, imposes it. And the 
Holy Scriptures in words which are not to be misunderstood, and 
in places innumerable, impose it. It was not merely with the spir- 
it of invitation, but of command that it was said — "O earth — eartb 
— earth! hear the word of the Lord;" and again — ''If any man 
have ears to hear, let him hear.'' It is plainly our business then to 
hear the voice of our Maker — to hear with reverence and humility 
— to hear with the solemn purpose to heed and practice all that is 
learned. Such is our reasonable oblio-ation, an oblio-ation existing: 
in the very nature of things, and to be disregarded with impunity 
by none. 

For we are again taught in the passage before us, that not to 
hear the voice of God, is to provoke his displeasure, and to ruiu 
our souls. How can it be otherwise ? For the great Jehovah to 
tolerate such contempt of his authority, and such insult of his dig- 



66 



LECTURE VI. CHAPTER III. 1 11. 



nity, would be to tolerate principles which must in the end work 
their way to the very centre of his throne — interrupt the harmony 
of his government — and tarnish the very seat of Deity. There is 
not a perfection of his nature — not a principle of his government — 
and not an interest relating io any one of his faithful subjects, but 
which cries out as with a voice of thunder — " The soul that sinneth 
it shall die." Whatever be the character of the offense, or the 
circumstances of the otFender, he shall die^ without any shelter to 
screen him from the blast, or any moving sympathies to mitigate 
his woe. Hence the sore calamities and heavy judgments which 
befel the hardened, stiff-necked, and regardless Israelites in the 
wilderness. The voice of God had been addressed to them through 
their fathers — through Moses — through Aaron — through the plagues 
which fell upon Egypt — and the prodigies attending their release 
from bondage ; and though they heard, and for a while heeded, yet 
many soon disregarded and hardened their hearts against the Al- 
mighty. At Pelusium they murmured for bread — at Rephidim 
they murmured for water — at Sinai they bowed in worship of a 
golden calf — at Taberah they murmured for flesh — and at Kadesh 
they refused to go over into the land as God directed. Thus they 
hardened their hearts, tempted the Lord, and provoked his wrath ; 
but they also saw his works. The heavens rained fire and consu- 
med the wicked — plagues came and destroyed the lustful — and the 
Lord sware in his anger that the disobedient should not enter into 
the land, nor share in his glorious rest. So the carcasses of thou- 
sands fell in the wilderness, and were left to rot upon the desert 
sands, as the sad memorials of Jehovah's wrath upon those who 
refuse to hear and heed his word. 

Finally, we see then the utter hopelessness of those who reject 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and refuse to be governed by his laws, or 
to obey his instructions. If under the administrations of Moses, 
who was a mere servant, every provocation and disobedience re- 
ceived its merited punishment, and every sinner was for ever over- 
thrown, what hope of safety can those entertain who refuse to hear 
him that speaketh from heaven.'* If he that despised Moses' law 
died without mercy, how can they escape who despise the teach- 
ings of the God of Moses } How shall the arm of vengeance be 
stayed from smiting them with utter death Does not every thing 
above them — around them — -and beneath them cry out for their ru- 



LECTURE VI. — CHAPTER III. 1 — 11. 



67 



in? Abused mercies — slighted favors — worn-out patience — insul- 
ted justice, all cry cut them down !" Ninevah, Tyre, Babylon, 
Sodom, Gomorrah, throughout all their ruins — the thousands who 
perished in the wilderness — spirits in the prison of hell — saints — 
and angels lift the voice of condemnation, " Cut them down !" " cut 
them down !" The trampled blood of a despised Jesus crieth out 
for vengeance upon their guilty heads ; whilst hell itself from be- 
neath is moved to meet them at their coming. Wherever they go 
the indignant eye of an incensed God is on them. Turn in what- 
ever direction they may, all is despair and utter dismay. Having 
stepped aside from the only path to heaven, and refused to hear 
their only Savior, the decree is irrevocably gone forth to exclude 
them from the final rest. There is no hope for them. 

Apply this subject then, my hearers, to yourselves. It is one 
which interests every one of us as much as it did the Jews of apos- 
tolic times. In the main, our circumstances do not differ materially 
from theirs. We have the same evils to avoid, and the same work 
to accomplish. The same arguments and exhortations apply to us 
both. If we pursue a similar course with them, the same conse- 
quences will most inevitably ensue. If rejecting the Savior placed 
them in a condition of utter hopelessness, ours shall be none the 
less awful from the repetition of the same crime. We have the 
same God to deal with, the same number of talents for which to 
account, and the same law by which we are to be judged. Have 
you then considered the Apostle of our profession } Have you can- 
vassed well in your own minds his claims upon your faith and your 
obedience Are you prepared by deliberate reflection, to dismiss 
him from your hearts and from your hopes } Have you suffered 
your thoughts to dwell upon his faithfulness — upon the reward which 
he promises to the believer — and upon the certainty and awfulness of 
the punishment attending a disregard of his commandments ? Have 
you looked at his supremacy, and at his worthiness to your sincer- 
est homage } Have you become members of his family by an hum- 
ble obedience to his laws, and reliance upon him for salvation ? 
Then in the language of the apostle, " hold fast the confidence and 
the rejoicing of the hope unto the end." Maintain a bold and open 
profession of the truths of the Gospel. Let your hope inspire you 
with courage and with joy, knowing that in due season you shall 
reap if you faint not. Let no false confidence that your salvation 



68 



LECTURE VI. CHAPTER III. 1 11. 



is now accomplished prevent you from obtaining your reward. Ev- 
er remember that this world is the theatre of conflict, not re- 
pose. Those unfortunate Hebrews who fell in the wilderness all 
started from Egypt with bright prospects and strong confidence ; 
but having failed by the way, they were cut off from the promise. 
Rest not satisfied with your present attainments in holiness ; but 
fix your steady gaze upon the crown, and fight until it is won. — 
Never give over the struggle until your faith is changed to sight, 
and the sorrows of time give place to the bliss of eternity. 

Probably however, you have never given your attention to sa- 
cred things — never submitted yourselves to the Lord Jesus — and 
never thought of relying upon him for salvation. " To-day then, 
if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." From this mo- 
ment determine to remain no longer insensible to the claims of God 
and your souls — no longer turn a deaf ear to the entreaties of the 
compassionate Jesus — and no longer slight his calls to penitence 
and holiness. Be careful — I beseech you, be careful how you deal 
with sacred things, or tamper with Jehovah. The voice of w^arn- 
ing addresses you most solemnly from this subject. And admon- 
ished by friendship and the misfortunes of others, conclude at once 
to turn your faces Zionward. Let this be the day — nay, the hour 
from which you shall hereafter date the beginning of the work of 
your redemption. Delay not; this is the time. The Bible says 
710W — the Spirit says now — Jesus bending from the mercy-seat says 
now — each moment as it flits by you on rapid wing to eternity says 
nowj nowj now ! Do you only say now. Now give your hearts to 
God. Now let the heavenly stranger in. Now obey your Sa- 
vior's call. Now embrace the bleeding Lamb. And an eternity of 
rest, and love, and peace shall be your fadeless inheritance. 



LECTURE y 1 1 



THE SIX OF UNBELIEF. 

Heb. iii. 12 — 19, Take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of nn- 
belief, in departing t^orn the hiving: God. But exiiort one another daily, vrhileit is 
called To-daj ; lest anv ot'vou be hardened through llie deceittuhiess oi's n. For 
we are made partakers of Ciirist. if we hold the beginning ofo .ir conriaence stead- 
fast unto the end : ^Valle it is said. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not 
TOLir hearts, as in tiie provocation. Fur some, when they iiad heard, did provoke : 
howbeit not all that came oat of Egypt by Moses, But v/ith Vv-iio ia was lie grieved 
forty years'? icas it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses t^eil i!i tne wil- 
derness ? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, bat to 
them that believed not.- So we see that they could not enter in because of un- 
belief 

In the last lecture your attention was called to the apostle's ar- 
gument upon Christ's superiority to Moses, and to a few remarks 
growing out of it. In the words just read, the application of that 
aro-ument and the train of reflections which it excited is still con- 

o 

tinued. ^ye find here 1st an evil spoken of, 2nd a direction given 
how to avoid it, and 3d, motive urged for attending to this direc- 
tion. This will then be the proper order to be observed in study- 
ing the import and bearings of the text. 

" Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart 
of unbelief, in departing from the living God.*' 

Unbelief literally means, a want of confidence. Sometimes it is 
restricted to a want of confidence in tiie truth and sufficiency of the 
Gospel, or a want of trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation. In the 
case of the Jews alluded to in the text, it consisted in distrust in 
the verity of Divine promises. It had been declared by Moses, 
that the Lord had prepared and intended to give to his chosen peo- 
ple a land of rest, upon the conditions that they complied with his 
commandments. Of the trutii and sincerity of these declarations 
they had the most ample evidences. But in the face of all those stu- 
pendous manifestations of Bl\"ine power attending their deliverance 
from the land of bondage, many murmured — distrusted — rebelled — 
and perished in the wilderness. The cause of tlieir fall was un- 
belief. 

In the present day may be enumerated three classes of unbeliev- 
ers. The first class comprises all those persons who either parti- 



70 LECTURE VII. CHAPTER III. 12 19. 

ally or entirely reject the Gospel as unworthy of serious attention. 
Here are to be ranked infidels, who disbelieve the truths of revela- 
tion altogether ; Jews, who reject the Messiahship of Christ ; and 
all who question the Deity of Christ — deny the atonement of Christ 
— associate human merit with the risrhteousness of Christ — or in 
any w^ay trust to themselves and their own efforts for salva- 
tion. All these are represented in the Scriptures, and are to be re- 
garded by us, as imhelievers who have no title to everlasting life. 

Another and more numerous class embraces all those persons 
who give a kind of verbal assent to the truths of Christianity, but 
who do not consider to what they are assenting, or give themselves 
any concern as to whether they are influenced or not by the great 
truths which they apparently admit. The vast majority of those 
who live in christian countries have a sort of general belief in reli- 
gion. According to their own way they believe the Gospel. They 
have no disposition to doubt its Divine authority. They give their 
assent to all the evidences on which it rests, and are ready to hurl 
back with indignation any charges of infidelity which might be 
brought against them. Their only, but their great deficiency is, 
that they do not embrace it with the proper warmth. They do not 
ponder its momentous teachings, nor yield obedience to its require- 
ments. They coolly admit it to be the word of God and the only 
guide to substantial happiness, but manifest no concern as to what 
it contains, and never bring home its sublime doctrines with the ur- 
gency of personal application. They esteem religion well enough 
in its place, or for those disposed to embrace it, but they are not 
impressed with the necessity of taking its obligations upon them- 
selves, or of joining in the observance of its sacred rites. All such, 
though theoretical believers are practical infidels. They have no 
claim acknowledged by the Scriptures to the blessings of salvation. 

A third class consists of such as not only assent to the general 
truths of revelation, but also profess their faith, assume all the ob- 
ligations of religion, and go through the formal exercises of chris- 
tian duty, yet live in constant and habitual indulgence in sin. Such 
maintain an external decency in the church, but have not the life of 
true christians. Some even go so far as to study the Bible, they 
almost speak the language of the holy book, but their conduct and 
private life come short both of its spirit and its letter. I refer now 
to hypocrites, formalists, and cold professors, who have a name to 
live but in reality are dead. Nor is this an inconsiderable class. 



LECTURE Yil. CHAPTER III. 12 19. 



71 



They are to be found all over Christendom disgracing the church 
and scandalizing the religion of Jesus. They hang as clogging 
weights to the wheels of the chariot of the Gospel, and linger in 
putrid masses about every congregational altar. Whatever may be 
the pretensions of such, whatever may be their outward sanctimo- 
niousness, they are as whited sepulchres full of corruption and 
rottenness. Their hearts are unbelieving. 

Faith is that exercise of mind by which we warmly embrace the 
Savior in his several offices of prophet, priest, and king — that 
peaceful reclining of the soul upon the efficacy of Christ's media- 
tion for salvation. It is something which cannot be induced by a 
mere mathematical demonstration. Argument can go no farther 
than to convince of Christ's Messiahship and of our duty to 
obey and trust him. Faith requires the exercise of will. It is 
an act of personal appropriation of the merits of Christ which com- 
mits us to obedience and makes him our Savior, If it depended 
upon conviction alone — a mere involuntary assent of the mind to 
truths which cannot be honestly denied, then we should have but 
few unbelievers. , It is only occasionally that we meet with one so 
deeply debased as coolly to reject all revealed truth. The eviden- 
ces which sustain the Divine authority of religion are mighty and 
overwhelming. The fultillaient of ancient prophecies respecting 
the genealogy, birth-place^ and public life of its great founder — the 
artless, illiterate, and self-denying character of its first teachers — 
the purity, comprehensiveness, and blessed tendency of the moral 
system which they taught — the miracles and wondrous prodigies 
wrought in conMrmation of their authority — the perfect harmony of 
all their doctrines with the discovered laws of nature — with vari- 
ous other facts and collateral considerations, urge home the truth 
with such resistless power as to render it impossible for any candid 
mind not to believe the Gospel. The giant intellects of such men 
as Bacon, Newton, Locke, and otiiers who have moved the master 
wheels of science and philosophy, and whose works still remain to 
guide the onward march of mind, were made to bow in humble rev- 
erence to the truth as thus established and sustained. And but few, 
if any, who, with all their internal corruption and predisposition to 
infidelity, can honestly withhold their assent to the leading truths 
of revelation. Thus far nearly all believe. But a man can conve- 
niently be brought to this point, and still have no afiectionate reach- 



12 



LECTURE VII. CHAPTER III. 12—19. 



in^ forth of the soul unto God, or experience the least movement ot 
heart toward a christian obedience. So far as the intellectual as- 
sent is concerned, the very devils believe. There are no infidels 
in eternity. And yet there are wicked spirits there, who never 
feel the kindlings of holy affections. Such a faith \s utterly pow- 
erless — it is dead. And all those who have advanced no farther 
are still to be numbered among the ranks and rest under the con- 
demnation of uyibelievers. 

Unbelief of whatever grade is sinful in the sight of God and ru- 
inous to the soul. Upon this point there is great discrepancy in 
the public sentiment. Faith is often thought to be of little conse- 
quence in the matter of salvation. Men sometimes suppose, if on- 
ly the general tenor of their lives is on the side of morality, the 
mere trifling defection upon this point will not exclude them from 
heaven. Not so are we taught in the Scriptures. The text de- 
clares a heart of unbelief to be evil. The apostle in another part 
of the epistle says, " without faith it is impossible to please God." 
And the Savior just before his ascension authorized the universal 
and uncompromising proclamation of this doctrine — " he that be- 
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall 
he damned?^ Such is "the law and the testimony" on this point; 
and let every careless worldling hear it with trembling alarm. 

The evil of unbelief may be seen in the unwillingness which it 
evinces on the part of him who indulges it to suhmit to Divine re- 
quirements. The secret of it is not so much a want of conviction that 
Christ is the great and only Savior, as unwillingness of heart to come 
to him for life. It is not so much an error of the understanding as 
wickedness of heart. For the most part men believe and know 
that there is life, peace, and purity above ; yet, like carrion worms, 
they prefer to riot in stench and rottenness. " And this is the con- 
demnation, that light is come into the world, but men love dark- 
ness rather than light." They love their pleasures and worldly 
habits more than the service of God, and relish sin more than holi- 
ness. They wilfully and wickedly resist the truth and darken their 
souls ; and it is this which constitutes the great cause of the unbe- 
liever's condemnation and ruin. 

The apostle speaks of unbelief as leading away from the great 
source of happiness, to a departure from the living God. There 
are in every human breast such restless cravings of soul, such dis- 



LECTURE VII. CHAPTER III. 12 19. 



73 



quietudes of conscience as must drive all rejecters or neglecters of 
the Gospel to the hopeless alternative of seeking from other quar- 
ters and by other means the glorious ends which it proposes. Hence 
many unbelievers fly to philosophy and wander for years tlirough 
its profound depths, hoping by the mere efforts of their own rea- 
son to discover some royal road to happiness. Others pursue a 
different path, and like the builders of Babel, attempt to construct 
a way to heaven with their own meritorious works, sacrifices, pil- 
grimages, penances, and mortifications. Whilst a third class launch 
out upon the broad seas of selfishness and libertinism, expecting to 
quench the thirst of a famishing soul by sensual gratifications. Thus 
their unbelief leads them away from the fountain of living waters, 
to seek for cool streams in the arid desert ; whilst the farther they 
go, the hotter and the drier become the sterile ^vastes around them ; 
until at last, far away from all kind sympathies and beyond the 
reach of help, they fall the scorched and blasted victims of their 
own presumption and wickedness. 

The sin of unbelief, like all other sins, also deceives and hardens 
the heart. It presents false promises, and hopes of success which 
can never be realized. It assures^ of enjoyment — and pleasure — ■ 
and freedom which it cannot impart. With influences resembling 
the fabled charm of the serpent, it dravvS its victims along with the 
fascinations of bright colors and pleasant sounds to the very jaws 
of ruin. Like those misty risings from the sea which are often 
mistaken by the mariner for the long-desired shore, but which as 
he approaches entirely evade him ; so sin beguiles the unwary 
heart with bright prospects of rest and happiness which are never 
to be obtained. When once indulged, it hurries on the soul from 
one degree- of alienation from God to another far beyond what was 
first anticipated. Enchanted by its siren voice, many are borne 
along the general current of worldliness, until the heart becomes 
hard — the conscience seared — and the moral susceptibilities all 
deadened ; and floated at last into the great whirlpool of impiety, 
remain for a little while pleasantly rocking over the eddying wa- 
ters, utterly unconscious of their danger, until the dread thunder of 
the sinking centre bursts with black despair upon their startled ears ! 

Of all the attributes of sin this hardening deceitfulness is the 
most dangerous and fearful. This is the potent charm which se- 
duces the soul to death. How many an unsuspecting one has been 



74 



LECTURE VII. — CHAPTER III. 12 — 19. 



lured by its enchantments to the dark realms of endless despair ! — 
How many are even this day tolerating and encouraging its cares- 
ses, who, could they but see in naked reality the dread consequen- 
ces which await them, would fly away in utter abhorrence ! Could 
that young man foresee the degradation and wretchedness of the 
drunken life he is about to lead, how promptly would he dash away 
his cups, knowing that 

• " in the flowers which wreath the sparkling bowl, 

Fell adders hiss and poisonous serpents roll." 

Could he but know the misery, disgrace, and despair which is at 
last to burn and crisp his soul, you would find him no more in the 
secret room of the gamester. Did he but understand the pollution, 
remorse, and dying agony which is to dishonor the close of his ca- 
reer, how would he avoid the company of the voluptuary and the 
sensualist. But as it is, he sees no danger nigh. Everything glows 
with glad hope. Flowery fields and sunny walks spread inviting- 
ly before him. Trees of sweet fruit are waving in his eye. Green 
shades and pleasant breezes all whisper come — come and be satis- 
fied. Others just in the path before him eat, drink, and die in his 
sight ; but he thinks not of danger. Kind friends with bitter tears 
beseech him, stay away — stay away ! But he sees fortune, honor, 
and happiness almost within reach, and he will not be prohibited 
from stepping forth and partaking. A world of plenty smiles invi- 
tingly around him, and he will not suffer his hands to be bound. A 
voice from heaven cries — Beware ! A still small voice within him 
whispers — Beware ! But so completely is he bound by the be- 
witching spell that he presses heedlessly on. Step after step he 
takes, each removing him farther and farther toward the brink of 
perdition. In a few years the work is accomplished — the fatal 
line passed — and the fires of hell kindled up around him in furies 
indescribable and never to be abated or extinguished. The fruit of 
his unbelief now reaches its maturity, and the smoke of his torment 
ascends up for ever and ever ! 

Such is the alarming evil spoken of in the text, and from which 
with its dire concomitants the apostle wished to save his readers. 
It is with deep anxiety then we enter upon the consideration of the 
direction he gives how to avoid it. 

" Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart 



LECTURE VII. — CHAPTER III. 12 19. 



75 



of unbelief, in departing fronri the living God. And exhort one 
another daily, while it is called to-day." 

The first thing which Paul proposes as a preventive of unbelief, 
is the exercise of a strict guard. Take heed?'' There is nothing 
more important to the preservation and advancement of christian 
character, than a careful watchfulness over all the movings of the 
soul. A thorough acquaintance with one's own heart — its feel- 
ings — weaknesses — fears — and hopes, is entirely indispensable to 
true and consistent piety. Without it we are likely to form wrong 
conclusions as to our real characters and wants, misapply the truth, 
and wrest the Scriptures to our own destruction. An absence of a 
strict self-watchful disposition, and a constant guard over all the 
actions, feelings and operations of the heart, exposes us to every 
form of delusion and infidelity. The human " heart is deceitful 
above all things and desperately wicked." It is full of subtlety 
and insidious artifice. It will cramp — conceal — and pervert the 
truth, distort — smooth over — and explain away everything that 
comes in opposition to its selfishness and corruption. It would per- 
suade us that virtue is vice, and that vice is virtue. It blinds the 
judgment, and hushes the cries of conscience by false coloring and 
misrepresentation. It clings willingly and tenaciously to every 
species of error, abomination, and skepticism. It is fully of hy- 
pocrisy and lies. It urges every petty prejudice with all the con- 
fidence of reasonable objection, and presents the most glaring soph- 
istry with the uncompromising sternness of immutable truth. Nor 
is there any doubt or infidelity so plausible, powerful, or difficult 
to be uprooted, as that which grows upon us out of the deep de- 
pravity of the heart. Low in the chambers of the soul stand the 
mightiest battlements of hell. It is there that Satan's fiercest en- 
ginery is played, and his deadliest arrows shot at our integrity. The 
beloved Dr. Payson has somewhere observed, " all the atheistical, 
deistical, and heretical objections which I meet with in books are 
childish babblings, compared with those which Satan suggests, and 
which he urges upon the mind with a force which seems irresisti- 
ble." 

Hence, how pertinent and important is the apostolic injunction, 
Take heed. My brethren, ponder it well. Guard the operations 
of your souls, and suppress and repel the first risings of unbelief. 
Constantly keep a watchful eye upon your religious feelings, and 



76 



LECTURE VII. CHAPTER III. 12 — 19. 



the manner in which you receive and hold Divine truth. Beware 
of giving room in your hearts to the first germs of doubt. In what- 
ever form it presents itself, at once pronounce upon it your anathe- 
mas, and rush to the Rock of your defense. 

But the apostle further directs his readers to " exhort one another 
daily.^'' This mutual exhortation is to be regarded rather as a spe- 
cial, than as a general direction. Those to whom it was originally 
given were placed in very peculiar and critical circumstances. 
Their escape from the terrible judgment which was hastening on 
Jerusalem and the Jewish nation, was made to depend upon' the 
most careful observance of certain foretold signs, and the most 
prompt action when these signs were once manifested. Hence it 
was highly important for them daily to exhort each otiier — converse 
freely upon the matters which then more particularly concerned 
them — endeavor to excite each other to vigilance and sobriety — and 
keep constantly before each other's minds the solemnity of the 
scenes through which they were about to pass. 

But although this direction applied with special force to the 
Jews, it is not to be regarded as exclusively confined to them. It 
is full of wisdom in its application to all christian believers in all 
time and in all places. It becomes us also to " exhort one another 
daily while it is called To-day, lest any be hardened through the 
deceitfulness of sin." Not that it is the duty of each church-mem- 
ber to assume the responsibility of public exhortation. This is a 
duty wliich properly belongs to the ministry, and is justifiable in 
the laity only in rare cases of undoubted piety associated with at 
least a moderate share of intellectual cultivation. The direction 
refers more to that private watch and care which individual mem- 
bers should always exercise over each other. Not that one should 
set himself as the conscience-keeper of his brother; nor that we 
are to assume unto ourselves the censorship of each other's charac- 
ters. This would be entirely contrary to the spirit of the text, as 
well as true christian forbearance. The meaning is, that intimate 
friends in the church should frequently commune together, in a fra- 
ternal manner admonish each other of their failings, and strive to 
aid each other toward heaven. And not only intimate friends. This 
matter is spoken of as a general duty devolving equally upon all. 
Such a tender and confidential connection is here pre-supposed in 
every church organization, as to render it no infringement upon the 



LECTURE VII. CHAPTER III. 12 19. 



77 



common courtesies of life to admonish a brother who goes astray, 
or to put forth personal endeavors to reclaim any who may have 
fallen. A false delicacy upon this point has left many a soul to be 
ensnared and overcome by temptation, and suffered thousands to go 
down to people the realms of w^oe, who might otherwise have be- 
come illustrious among the loudest harps of heaven. A word fitly 
spoken by a brother may easily tear up the first germinations of 
sin, which, had they gone on, w-ould have brought forth a fruitful 
harvest of suffering and anguish. A faithful admonition — a timely 
warning may cause the soul to retrace its first steps in the path of 
error, which had it pursued, w^ould have brought it into irretriev- 
able ruin. A faithful blow upon infidelity at its first presentation 
may forever drive it from the mind. Then lay to heart this import- 
ant direction. Carry it with you in all your intercourse wntli each 
other. Regard it with such reverence as never to speak of the 
failings of others in their absence, of which you have not first per- 
sonally and faithfully admonished them. Always look upon it as 
your imperative duty to " exhort one another." 

The great motive now by which these directions are enforced is 
contained in the words as follows. ''For we are made partakers 
of Christ, if W'C hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto 
the end; while it is said. To-day if ye will hear his voice harden 
not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some when they had 
heard did provoke or to give a more apposite rendering to the 
original, " who now were they, that when they heard did provoke? 
Were they not all, indeed, who came out of Egypt by Moses? 
And with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with 
them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And 
to w4)om sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to 
them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in be- 
cause of unbelief." 

The point of this language is, that the indulgence of unbelief 
will rob us of the end at wdiich we as christians aim. This is first 
stated, and then illustrated in the case of the unbelieving Jews. 
Our high aim is to attain unto the blessedness of everlasting rest by 
becoming partakers of Christ and of his kingdom. The believer 
hopes that at death he wall be liberated from a body full of infirmi- 
ties and pains, and translated from the stormy scenes of time to the 
peaceful realms of undisturbed repose. But the text distinctly 



78 



LECTURE VII. — CHAPTER III. 12 19. 



states, that we are made partakers of Christ, and realize these glad 
hopes only upon the condition that " we hold the beginning of our 
confidence steadfast unto the end." Though we may run well for 
a season, should we then begin to doubt and fall away, our former 
virtue and faith will profit us nothing. 

As to that abstract question whether it is possible for a true be- 
liever totally and finally to fall, I have no desire here or anywhere 
to enter any discussion. Whatever be the theory in this matter, 
facts cannot be changed. Whether we insist upon the fallibility or 
the infallibility of believers, the fact remains the same, that the aw- 
ful consequences of apostasy are being continually presented in the 
Scriptures as among the most solemn motives to christian duty. 
And whether instances of apostasy only discover a defective char- 
acter from the onstart, and prove that such individuals were never 
animated with a true faith, or the contrary; it does not in the least 
affect the truth, that apostates never can by persevering in unbelief 
enter into the promised rest. We may either receive or reject the 
doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, and the fact remains 
unaltered, that without perseverance there can be no salvation. The 
beginning of our confidence must be held steadfast unto the end. 

The doctrine that unbelief, notwithstanding former faith and en- 
joyment, will rob us of the end at which w^e aim, is very clearly 
set forth in the history of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. 
The apostle first cites the recorded fact that some did provoke God 
and perish ; and then proceeds " who then were they, that when 
they heard did provoke ^ Were they not all (i. e. from among tliose) 
who came out of Egypt by Moses ? And with whom was he 
grieved forty years ? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose 
carcasses fell in the wilderness.^ And to whom sware he that they 
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not.?" The 
unfortunate persons who fell victims to Divine judgments in the 
wilderness, were all members of the house of Israel. They had 
all believed and quit their country to go with Moses in quest of the 
promised land. But after having proceeded a certain distance, they 
began'^to discredit the Divine promise— murmured against Moses — 
and rebelled against the God who had redeemed them. But did 
the vengeance of Jehovah slumber in view of their former faith, 
and their partial obedience } By no means. Armies, elements, and 
reptiles were commissioned with the execution of Divine wrath 



LECTURE VIL CHAPTER III. 12 19. 



79 



upon tliem ; and the carcasses of thousands were left to moulder on 
the desert plains as perpetual monuments of the evils of unbelief 
They totally failed of their aim. 

It is by the awful consideration then of finally coming short of 
heaven, that christians are urged to guard their own hearts and to 
admonish others against the indulgence of unbelief, or any disposi- 
tion to discredit what God has revealed. Let it sink deep into 
your hearts. Endeavor to profit by the solemn lesson. And may 
Almighty God save us all from the delusions and consequences of 
unbelief. 



LECTURE VIII. 



THE PROMISED REST. 

Heb. iv. 1 — n. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of enteiing' into 
his rest, any of you sliould seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel 
preached, as well as unto them : but the word preached did not profit them, not 
being mixed with faith in tliem that heard it. For w-e which have "relieved do en- 
ter into rest, as he said. As I have sworn in my wrath, if ihey shall enter into my 
rest: altliough the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he 
spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the 
seventh day from all his works. And in this jolace again. If they shall enter into 
my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and ihey to 
whom it was fiist preached entered not in because of unbelief; (Again, he limiteth 
a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time ; as it is said. To-day, 
if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them 
rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth 
therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, lie also 
hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.) Let us labor therefore to 
enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief 

The apostle in this passage still continues the train of thought 
flowing from the consideration of Christ's superiority to Moses, 
and the fearful judgments which fell upon those who disbelieved 
the teachings of the ancient prophet. Having shown the cause of 
the failure on the part of those Israelites who perished in the des- 
ert, he here proceeds to point out the similarity of the condition of 
those to whom he wrote, and their consequent exposure to the same 
error and the same ruin. There are four particulars which he 
brings distinctly to our view. 1st. That a promise of rest yet re- 
mains to us. 2nd. The character of this rest. 3d. That faith is 
the condition of entrance into this rest. 4th. That the failures of 
others to enter into it should excite anxiety in us as to our prospect 
of entering it. To the brief discussion of these points I will this 
morning address myself 

In arguing the point, that a promise of rest yet remains, it is to . 
be observed that a rest for the faithful has been provided, or deter- 
mined on from the beginning. The apostle remarks, that " the 
works were finished from the foundation of the world." The sanc- 
tification of the seventh day of the creation, and the rest of Jeho- 
vah on that day, is also referred to as in some way connected with 



LECTURE VIII. CHAPTER IV. 1 11. 



81 



the institution of this rest, or as a type of it. It was never intended 
that any man should be lost. Not only has provision been made 
for our convenience during probation, but also for our final rest and 
glory. And as God has made provision for a future rest, it is his 
unalterable purpose that there shall be some to possess it. Ma7i 
may labor in vain, or be defeated in his plans, but God never. If 
he has determined on a v\^orld of rest, he also will have some to 
occupy it. He who foreknew all things, knew also, that amid all 
human perverseness there would still be some found worthy of 
heavenly reward. Hence, says the apostle, " it remaineth that 
some must enter therein," And looking at the character of God, 
we dare admit no other conclusion. Nor did those to whom this 
rest was first offered enter into it. To the antediluvians it was of- 
fered, but they spurned the promise and died. To Abraham and 
his seed after him it was offered, but the glad tidings proved entire- 
ly profitless to thousands, " not being mixed with faith in them that 
heard it." Most of the pilgrim Hebrews failed to enter into it 
" because of unbelief" And multitudes to whom the promise w^as 
offered, w^ere for ever excluded by the wTath of an angry God. 
Hence the inference, that a promise of entering into his rest is yet 
left us. 

But the apostle refers also to David's interpretation of the prom- 
ise, and to some remarks of this royal prophet concerning it, as af- 
fording additional proof that this promise still remains. The quo- 
tation is from the 95th Psalm, where David in a strain of exhorta- 
tion to his countrymen exclaims — " To-day, if ye will hear his 
voice, harden not your hearts," &c. The length of time w^hich had 
elapsed since the first formal utterance of the promise to Abraham, 
and the utterance of this exhortation, was about 750 years. Hence 
Paul argues if after so long a time," David still exhorts to such 
reverence and faith as were the stipulated conditions of entrance 
into that rest, it proves that it was yet attainable in his day. And 
if the promise still stood open in the time of David, it was certain- 
ly not fulfilled since that, and consequently extended also to the 
apostle's age. " For if Joshua had given them rest, (that is fulfilled 
the promise) then w^ould he not have spoken of another day. There 
remaineth threfore a rest to the people of God." And to bring the 
matter into a little closer application to ourselves, I may argue from 
the same premises, if the promise extended so far as the time of 
6 



82 



LECTIJRE VIIL CHAPTER IV. 1^ — 11. 



Paul,, it certainly was not since fulfilled ; and that it consequently 
extends even to the present day and generation, and renders it pos- 
sible for us to attain the same blessedness. And if disposed to 
doubt the conclusiveness of this argument, you have only to open 
the lids of the New Testament, and upon almost every page you 
will find it stated in the clearest terms, and accompanied with ad- 
monitions and entreaties to fear and labor lest we should finally 
come short of it. 

As to the character of this rest, the apostle intimates that it was 
typified by the sabbatic institution ; i. e. that a complete emblem of 
this promised rest is to be found in the sanctified seventh day of the 
creation. In verse 4th, speaking of the determination of God upon 
such a rest, he adds — " For he spake in a certain place of the sev- 
enth day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all 
his works." The rest itself in the original of verse 9th, is called 
a Sabbatism. And in verse iQth, he plainly declares this typical 
relation — "For he that entereth into his rest, ceaseth from his own 
works as God did from his." As to the extent of this typical rela- 
tion, I believe that the Sabbath designates both the order or place 
of this rest, in the successions of time, and the peacefulness of its 
character. 

The Sabbath comprises the last of the seven grand divisions of 
time. It is supposed by many of our most valued scripture exposi- 
tors, that the seven days of the creation are emblematic of seven 
thousand years of this world's history : that the six days in which 
the earth and all its appendages were made, are typical of six thous- 
and years, in which the work of redemption is instituted, developed 
and entirely finished, and the term of Christ's mediatorship fully 
accomplished; and that the seventh day in which God rested, is 
typical of one thousand years of rest and general jubilee for the 
ransomed children of God. There are also many expressions, al- 
lusions, and faint intimations scattered over the sacred pages which 
go on to favor this hypothesis; whilst there is nothing to contradict 
it. Peter when speaking of the conclusion of the present dispen- 
sation, and the introduction of the " new heavens and a new earth," 
seeks to make a particular impression of this truth, " that one day 
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one 
day." That brilliant season of triumph and rejoicing for the church 
to which the prophecies all refer, is explicitly declared in Revela- 
ions to continue " a thousand years." 



LECTURE VIII. — CHAPTER IV. 1 11. 



83 



It is interesting too, to look over the history of the creation and 
see how the work of each day seems to harmonize with the history 
and developments of its corresponding thousand years. Every day 
presents to our view new accessions to the great work, and every 
thousand years presents us with clearer revelations of the Divine 
purpose, and with more obvious tendencies in every thing to some 
great and final consummation. The first view which the inspired 
historian gives us at the creation, is the darkness that was upon the 
face of the deep; and. the first page of human history records the 
gloomy fall of man from his state of primeval innocence, The next 
step in the work of creation was the production of light, and the 
next page in the history of man dates the commencement of pro- 
phecy. The next day of creation the Lord divided the waters, 
and the second thousand years brought with it the general deluge. 
And so on, as the fourth day gave a sun, moon, and stars to the in- 
fant world, so the fourth thousand years of its history was the time 
when the Hebrew prophets flourished, and its close gave to be- 
nighted man a great spiritual teacher in the person of Jesus Christ, 
As the fifth and sixth days furnished the world with the nobler and 
higher orders of the creatures which inhabit it, and completed the 
whole by the creation of lordly man ; so the fifth and sixth thous- 
and years have thus far exhibited the development of the higher 
intellectual and moral faculties of man, and the signs of the times 
plainly indicate his rapid approximation to the fulness of worldly 
perfection. And as all the hours of the seventh day were sanctifi- 
ed, and in them God rested in the complacent review of his goodly 
work; so we believe the coming seventh thousand years of the 
world's history — that glorious thousand of which the prophecies 
speak — is the rest that is promised to the people of God. 

This also the nature of the promise when first made with Abra- 
ham, seems very clearly to prove. " And the Lord said unto Abra- 
ham, after that Lot was separated from him. Lift up now thine 
eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and south- 
ward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou 
seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee.". (Gen. xiii. 
14, 15, also xvii. 8.) The same promise was also repeated to 
Isaac. " Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee; and I will 
bless thee : for unto i/iee, and unto thy seed will I give all these 
countries." (Gen. xxvi. 3.) To Jacob also he said — "I am the 



84 



LECTURE VIII. — CHAPTER IV. 1—11. 



Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac : the land 
whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." (Gen. 
xxviii. 13.) Two things here are evident. 1st. That the land of 
promise and rest, has an earthly locality. It was the land w^hich 
Abraham saw — in which Isaac sojourned — and upon whose soil Ja- 
cob lay and slept. 2nd. That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob themselves 
were to inherit and dwell in it. The Lord had said to each of them 
concerning it, " I will give it f/iee." They were personally to en- 
ter and enjoy it, as well as their seed after them. Bearing in mind 
these two features of the promise or covenant, we find nothing in 
the history of the past to show that it has ever been fulfilled, and 
nothing in the prophecies of the future respecting its accomplish- 
ment, but what refers to the glorious millenium, when Israel shall 
be gathered in from the four corners of the earth, and those who 
died in faith shall be raised from the dead, and all together enter 
upon the peaceable possession of the land from the river of Egypt 
to the great river Euphrates," to celebrate the Sabbath of the world. 
It certainly was not more than typically fulfilled by the entrance of 
the ransomed Hebrews into Canaan, for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
were not with them. The apostle argues that Joshua did not give 
this rest, or else David would not and could not have spoken of it 
as yet future. In another place he affirms of the patriarchs and 
fathers — these all died in faith, not having received the promises, 
but having seen them afar off." And in his defense before Agrip- 
pa, he uses this very fact as an argument in favor of the resurrec- 
tion. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise 
made of God unto our Fathers ; unto which promise our twelve 
tribes, instantly serving God day and night, /lope to come, for which 
hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews — why should 
it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the 
dead Steven also declares, that though God did promise to give 
the land to Abraham for a possession, and to his seed after him, yet 
that " he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set 
his foot on." Thus plainly showing, that the promise was not ful- 
filled unto the ancient Hebrews, but that it still stands to be accom- 
plished in the future. Nor is the promise to find its fulfillment in 
the final entrance of the redeemed into the full fruition of glory ; 
beqause the promise as we have seen refers to an earthly possession. 
Consequently our only alternative is, to look to the last seven thous- 



LECTURE VIII. — CHAPTER IV. 1 11. 



85 



and years of this world, and to the triumphs and glories of that ju- 
biletic period, as constituting the rest that is promised to the people 
of God. 

The obvious spirit of the prophecies, gives additional weight to 
this interpretation. All the passages bearing upon it fully collected 
and considered, would fill a volume, and cannot be attempted here. 
Those however, who have read the prophetic portions of the Bible 
with any degree of attention, will know, that there is a time of uni- 
versal peace spoken of, and a day of triumph and glory for the 
church in this icorld alluded to, such as has never heretofore been 
witnessed. That blissful era, when " the people shall beat their 
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks," — 
when "nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither 
learn war any more," — when the " Prince of Peace, of the increase 
of whose government and peace there shall be no end," shall sit 
" upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and 
to establish it with judgment and with justice," has not yet dawned 
upon our bleeding world. That auspicious day, in which " the 
Lord shall set his hand a2:ain the second time to recover the remnant 
of his people, and assemble the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed 
of Judah from the four corners of the earth," " to plant vines in 
the mountains of Samaria, and to sing in the heights of Zion," has 
not yet come. And so far as I have been able to catch the whole 
drift and tenor of these promises, they all point to the last thousand 
years of this world as the allotted time of their fulfillment, and are 
given merely as commentaries on God's ancient covenant with his 
people respecting the last, prolonged, and universal sabbatism. 

Looking upon this promised rest then as identical with the mille- 
nium, I may remark with more particular reference to its character, 
that it will be a rest from the trials and anxieties of our probation. 
The Scriptures generally speak of it as a time of reward. Every 
one is then to receive according as his work hath been. The wick* 
ed are then to be overtaken by tribulation and anguish such as never 
has been, nor will ever be thereafter. All the faithful are then to 
receive crowns of life ; (Rev. ii. 10,) all that love his appearing, 
wear a crown of righteousness ; (2 Tim. iv. 8,) the elders who were 
examples to the flock, shall " receive a crown of glory that fadeth 
not away;" (I Peter v. 4,) " and they that be wise, shall shine as 
the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to right- 



86 



LECTURE VIII. CHAPTER IV. 1 — 11. 



eousness, as the stars for ever and ever." (Dan. xii. 3.) And many 
other passages which might be referred to, very plainly teach, that 
the commencement of that blessed era contemplates and pre-sup- 
poses the end of our probation, and the entrance of the faithful upo« 
an inheritance of reward. " He that entereth into his rest ceaseth 
from his own works as God did from his." Our temptations and 
mental struggles will then cease for ever. The christian will then 
lay down his armor to take it up no more. The weary soldier will 
then come home in final triumph over every foe. The bark which 
w^as so long tossed upon the stormy seas will then be .moored into 
the haven of undisturbed repose. And just as the worn laborer as 
the Sabbath approaches returns with gladness from his toils to the 
bosom of his quiet home, so will the ransomed of the Lord then 
" come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads ; 
they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee ' 
aw^ay." 

It will be a rest of the church from the conquest of the world. 
The church from its nature is aggressive. It breaks in upon all 
the errors — prejudices — and false religions of depraved humanity. 
Some of the conflicts through W'hich it must pass are furious and 
trying in the extreme. But whatever opposition may be brought 
against it, the Lord has said — it shall succeed. The time is com- 
ing, when the whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea," — when " every knee shall bow, 
and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord," — yea, " all the ends 
of the world shall remember and turn unto him, and all the kin- 
dreds of the nations will worship before him." That mystic stone 
of prophecy cut from the mountain without hands, which has these 
1800 years been moving among the nations, is destined to roll on 
with hicreasing acceleration through isles and continents, smiting 
idol shrines and altars, bursting the chains of ignorance that fetter 
the heaven-born spirit, crushing the thrones and dominions of wick- 
edness, and, with Satan and his vicegerencies fleeing before it, to 
sw^ell and enlarge as it rolls, until like the Andes of the south, it is 
seen from every quarter with tlie light of an unsetting sun resting 
upon its summit, and the ransomed Israel of God reclining around 
its base ! That leaven of regeneration which the Savior planted in 
the w^orld, which has for so long been working upon the depraved 
multitudes of man, is yet to go on in the exercise of its transform- 



LECTURE VIII. CHAPTER IV. 1 11. 



87 



ing energies, until the earth shall finally be mantled in the beauties 
of heaven — when even the trees shall wave with gladness — the 
floods clap their hands — and all nature exult and rejoice in univer- 
sal jubilee! Oh, the blissfulness of that rest, when the church, so 
often depressed and dismayed, so often hung with mourning and 
sackcloth for the slaughter of her children, shall come back from 
her six thousand years war laden with the fadeless gems and laurels 
of victory, and the shout of triumph ringing throughout her whole 
extent — " Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth !" 

And as that is to be a period of triumph for the church and Chris- 
tianity, so it must also be characterized by eminent holiness. The 
prophet declares — " In that day there shall be upon the bells of the 
horses, Holiness unto the Lord ; and the pots in the Lord's house 
shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusa- 
lem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts." Vice 
and impurity, if not entirely banished from the earth, will be en- 
tirely unknown within the limits of the land of promise. For 
" there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither 
whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie." Wars and 
strifes and consequently all misery will be utterly unknown there. 
As it was before the fountains of nature were tainted by sin, so then 
" the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, and the leopard with the 
kid ;" and men of all dispositions— temperaments — and constitu- 
tional peculiarities shall be so deeply pervaded with the principles 
of holiness, as to dwell together in sweetest communion. The sav- 
age, ferocious, and cruel, will then become tame, harmless, and fra- 
ternal. " Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and in- 
stead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree." " Every valley 
shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made lovf " — 
'Hhe crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain," 
" for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 

And as the principles of holiness are then to be universally dif- 
fused, understood, and practiced ; so must it also be a time of great 
happiness and glory. What we now see and feel of the tendencies 
of the religion of Jesus, much as it is abused and misapplied, leaves 
no room for us to expect less from its universal prevalence, than the 
communication of a tinge of glory to all the concerns of man, and 
the impartation to every soul of a joy which is " unspeakable and 
full of glory." Fancy to yourselves a family, in numbers vast as 



88 



LECTURE VIII. CHAPTER IV. 1 11. 



the sands upon the sea shore, redeemed from a world of trouble 
and tears, gathered into a land of plenty and security, clothed with 
all the virtues of the immaculate Jesus, all worshiping the same 
God, all linked together in the same sweet bonds of relationship, 
all singing the same song, all filled with the same spirit, each one 
delighting most in the other's happiness, and ascribing their united 
and uninterrupted praises to Him that sitteth upon the throne and 
unto the Lamb for ever and ever; and you may form some faint 
idea of the bliss and glory of the "rest that remaineth to the peo- 
ple of God." But after you have fancied all of blessedness which 
the mind of man can conceive, you will still have an extremely 
faint picture of the realities of that triumphant period. For " eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart 
of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for thena 
that love him." The most magnificent of prophetic visions, and the 
loftiest touches of David's harp only afford us a slight glimpse of 
its heavenly grandeur. 

" O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true ; 

Scenes of accomplished bliss! which who can see^ 

Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 

His soul refreshed with foretastes of the joy? 

Rivers of gladness water all the earth. 

And clothe all climes with beauty; the reproach 

Of barrenness is past. The fruitful field 

Laughs with abundance; and the land once lean^. 

Or fertile only in its own disgrace, 

Exults to see its thistly curse repealed. 

The various seasons woven into one, 

And that one season an eternal spring. 

The garden fears no blight, and needs no fence,. 

For there is none to covet, all are full. 

The lion, and the libbard, and the bear. 

Graze with the fearless flocks ; all bask at noor!i. 

Together, or all gambol in the shade 

Of the same grove, and drink one common stream. 

Antipathies are none. No foe to man 

Lurks in the serpent now ; the mother sees, 

And smiles to see, her infant's playful hand 

Stretched forth to dally with the crested worm,» 

To stroke his azure neck, or to receive 

The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue. 

All creatures worship man, and all mankind 

One Lord, one Father. Error has no place;. 

That creeping pestilence is driven away ; 



LECTURE VIII. CHAPTER IV. 1 11. 



89 



The breath of heaven has chased it. In the breast 
No passion touches a discordant string, 
But all is harmony and love. Disease 
Is not ; the pure and uncontaminate blood 
Holds its due course, nor fears the frost of age. 
One song employs all nations; and all cry, 
' Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us!' 

The next point to be considered, is the condition of entrance into 
this rest. This I have already stated to be Faith. It is said of the 
ancient Hebrews in the text and elsewhere, that they failed to en- 
ter this rest in consequence of the want of faith. Faith is every- 
where presented in the Scriptures as the great and only condition 
of salvation. The law in the Savior's own words is, " He that 
believeth shall be saved ; and he that believeth not, shall be damn- 
ed." This has been the law of salvation in all ages. It was "by 
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, 
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous." " By faith 
Enoch was translated, that he should not see death." " By faith 
Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with 
fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." By faith 
Abraham, when he w^as called to go out into a place which he 
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and w^ent out, not 
knowing whither he went." " By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and 
Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob when he was a 
dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshiped leaning on 
the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention 
of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment 
concerning his bones." " By faith Moses, when he was come to 
years, refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter, choosing 
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the 
pleasures of sin for a season." " And time would fail me to tell of 
Gideon, and of Barak, and of Sampson, and of Jepthae, and of 
David also, and of Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith 
subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises," &c. 
Nor was there ever a time when faith was not the great condition 
of Divine favor and eternal life. Whatever changes or alterations 
may have taken place upon the external forms and ceremonies of 
religion, the spirit of revolution and repeal has never touched upon 
the law of faith. And thouorh it has been often lost sisfht of amid 
the multiplicity of human conceits and false philosophy, it has ever 



90 



LECTURE VIII. — CHAPTER IV. 1 — -11. 



existed in the economy of grace as a fundamental law, forever and 
unchangeably the same. 

All true faith is compounded of knowledge — confidence — and 
obedience. In the first place there must be a revelation communi- 
cated from. God, as the subject of faith; then that revelation must 
be confided in and proceeded on as true ; and finally that confidence 
must produce such a lively impression of the truths revealed, as to 
lead to the diligent observance of the duties enforced. The text 
speaks of a hearing of the word, a belief of the word, and alludes 
to some action for which that word furnishes the motives. The 
great condition then of our salvation, and what is comprised in an 
acceptable compliance therewith, is the study of the truth — the be- 
lief of the truth — and obedience to the truth. And unless these 
three elements unite in the constitution of your faith, my brethren, 
you need not hope for a peaceful death, or for an admission into 
the promised rest. Faith there must be, and faith too of this spe- 
cific sort. If either of these features be wanting, it is powerless. 
Your speculative belief of the truth, and your cold assent of the 
intellect merely to the leading doctrines of the Bible, whilst those 
momentous facts do not affect your hearts, or the character and 
complexion of your conduct, will profit you but little. There is 
such a hearty consent of the whole soul required, and such an en- 
listment of all the deep sources of action, as to acquire for reveal- 
ed truth a controlling power equal if not superior to all external 
influences. In short, it is a taking into our calculations, temporal 
and eternal, all the imposing facts presented to us in the inspired 
volume. And if such be your mode of procedure, and it be per- 
severed in unto the end, " an entrance shall be ministered unto you 
abundantly into the "rest which is promised to the people of God. 

Lastly, consider the failures of others to enter into this rest, as 
incentives to fear and exertion, lest we also should come short of 
it. " Let us labor therefore," says the apostle, " to enter into that 
rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." The 
misfortunes of others should always furnish us with lessons for im- 
provement. This world is one vast laboratory, in which time and 
Providence are daily developing new phenomena of truth ; and it 
becomes all seriously to consider and practically to apply each 
new development. The peculiar operation of the truth among the 
unbelieving Israelites instanced in the text, places in our possession 



LECTURE VIII. — CHAPTER IV. 1 — 11. 



91 



two important facts. The first is, that the mere hearing of the 
word or Gospel furnishes no guarantee for the certainty of our sal- 
vation. A man may hear, and hear gladly, and understand what 
he hears, and yet be finally lost. The Jews heard the Gospel, 
(that is in its typical form,) yet it did not profit them, but through 
their unbelief were excluded from the promise. Herod also heard 
the teachings of John with gladness, " and did many things," but 
afterward died in the hopelessness of unpardoned guilt. And there 
are many now, I say riiajiy who are going down to the fiery cav- 
erns of hell with the very w^ords of life ringing in their ears. Nor 
is it certain, my hearers, that you shall be saved merely because it 
is your privilege to sit under the droppings of the sanctuary, or to 
have the promise of a future rest circulated in your hearing. Far 
from it. And if you do not believe, it will be more tolerable for 
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you. 

But we learn secondly from this matter, that nothing but the ut- 
most care and dili2:ence can screen us from the sore misfortunes 
which' befel the unbelieving Jews. We must /ear — we must labor. 
There must be an anxiety concerning the certainty of our salvation 
which never rests with mere suppositions and probabilities, and a 
spirit of activity and perseverance w^hich never stops short of the 
crown itself There must be solicitude — a restless solicitude lest 
our piety should in the end prove to be spurious and our souls be 
cut off from the covenant of promise. Ever remember, brethren, 
that salvation is a difficult work, and that it is only by the most 
strenuous exertions that the rest can be attained. If you have any 
doubt as to your favorable standing in the sight of God, I beseech 
you to search out the cause, and from this moment set out afresh 
for the kingdom. By indulging a habit of negligence in reference 
to this matter, like the careless Jews, you must inevitably fall short. 
And if any before me have until now been standing off in impeni- 
tence and unbelief, take warning from the fearful curses which fell 
upon those in ancient times who did not receive the Divine word 
with faith and obedience. As God dealt with them, so also, and 
much more severely w^ill he deal with you. Yours is a similar sin, but 
committed under more aggravated circumstances — against greater 
light and greater mercy. And if he that despised Moses' law died 
without mercy, of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought 
worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath 



< 



92 LECTURE VIII. CHAPTER IV. 1 11. 

counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and hath done 
despite unto the Spirit of grace! If those unfortunate Israelites 
were cut off from the promise and consigned to eternal despair, 
how can your sins fail to sink you to the darkest realms of perdi- 
tion ? Permit me affectionately to exhort you to beware, and let 
this subject have some weight upon your minds. You are sailing 
over the same dangerous seas, and running into the same dread 
whirlpool in which many before you have been ruined and over- 
whelmed. From the deep darkness of their infernal prison the 
voice of warning addresses you. Your souls with all their deaths 
less interests charge and challenge you to take heed. And your 
Savior with all his compassionate tenderness, in modes and phrases 
diversified and abundant, beseeches you to " fear lest a promise 
being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to 
come short of it." And may the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to 
impress our hearts with the truth, so help us to see our exposure, 
and to perform our duty, that in the end we may find a triumphant 
entrance into that glorious rest which remains for the people of 
God. 



LECTURE IX. 



PROPERTIES OF THE WORD OF GOD. 

Heb. iv. 12, 13. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any 
two-edCTed sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of 
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but alJ things are 
naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 

The apostle having been led by his subject to speak of " the 
word preached" unto the ancients, and of the manner in which it 
operated among them, he takes occasion here to make some gen- 
eral declarations concerning the properties of the word of God. 
His design seems to be to impress more deeply upon the minds of 
his readers the great importance of giving the most diligent atten- 
tion to the manner in which they received and held the communi- 
cations of the Lord. He wishes them to have a clear understand- 
ing of their situation under the dispensation of tiie Divine word, as 
well as of those great principles which are brought into exercise 
by the new relations in which that word throws them. " For the 
word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two- 
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and 
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart." 

As to the specific meaning which Paul designed to convey by 
the icord of God^ there has been among commentators great diver- 
sity of opinion. Some have thought that it refers to the Lord Je- 
sus, who is sometimes called " the Word ;" others to the whole of 
revelation; others to the Gospel alone ; others to the promises; 
others to the particular threat or commination which was just ut- 
tered. But without stopping to enumerate and weigh the argu- 
ments adduced in support of these several opinions, it must be evi- 
dent to every one that the word of God is what God speaks, wheth- 
er promises or threatenings — Law or Gospel — simple declarations 
of facts or statements of doctrines. It includes the whole of God's 
verbal communications to man. This is the idea which James at- 



94 



LECTURE IX. — CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 



laches to the phrase. And after looking carefully into the matter, 
I prefer to understand it as referring to the whole of those commu- 
nications spoken of in the opening of the epistle. 

Concerning this word, the apostle in the first place affirms that 
it is " quick'^^ — living — active. The meaning is that it is not inert, 
but operating, and always producing effects. It is not a dead let- 
ter, but a living spirit. Wherever it is proclaimed with any de- 
gree of clearness it will work. This is its nature and the purpose 
whereunto it was sent. 

This has been taught us by the Savior himself " The kingdom 
of heaven," says he, "is like unto leaven, which a woman look 
and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." 
The point of illustration here is the operating agency of the Gos- 
pel, which is destined to work in the world until every thing shall 
be brought under its influence. And what is the great instrumen- 
tality through which the Gospel operates } Is it not the word — 
the preaching of the word } It is the word of God then which is 
like the leaven. Now we know that it is the nature of leaven to 
work. When put into uncorrupted flour or paste, it cannot be 
stopped in its operations until the whole is brought under its in- 
fluence. 

In another place he likens the word to seed sown — germinating, 
and springing up. In all good seed there is a living principle, which 
when brought in contact with the moisture of the earth will devel- 
op itself So in the w^ord of God there is a principle of life which 
wnll be manifested. No man can hear it and not be in some way 
affected by it. The influence which it exerts may even be imper- 
ceptible to himself; but such are the new relations w^hich it throws 
around him, and the new facts which it brings up to his contem- 
plation, that he must in the end either beneficially or adversely be 
made to feel it. The truths of Divine revelation are too momen- 
tous not to exert a controlling power over the destiny of every one 
who learns them. If the w^ord be rejected and denounced as a 
crafty imposition upon human credulity entirely unworthy the at- 
tention of intelligent man, that voluntary darkening of the soul 
against all light will in time settle down into such an impenetrable 
hardness and obstinacy, as shall forever seal its perdition. If its 
high claims be merely neglected, and obedience to its requirements 
merely deferred from time to time to some more favorable season 



LECTURE IX. — CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 



95 



for making it a subject of serious consideration ; that neglect is. 
sure to beget a habit of procrastination which steals away the day 
of grace, and in most instances ushers the soul into eternity unpre- 
pared — unsanctified — and unsaved. If however, it be received 
with reverence and obedience, its activity will still be felt begetting 
heavenly feelings and desires, and transforming the corrupt heart 
into a state of fitness for eternal glory. The vitality of the word 
separated from the character of the effects which it produces, is 
perfectly inherent, and entirely independent from the will or action 
of the persons to whom it is addressed. Man's obedience or dis- 
obedience — hearty acceptance or bitter rejection does not in the 
least hinder its development. If it does not prove " a savor of life 
unto life," it will most assuredly prove " a savor of death unto 
death." 

This is a truth which it is wise for us to treasure in our hearts — ■ 
a truth which should ever weigh upon the mind when hearing or 
reading the word of God. Whenever you receive it from the 
preacher's lips, or learn it from the written page, you should be 
solemnly affected by the thought, that that same word is so quick 
as to facilitate your salvation, or heighten your damnation. Yes, 
awful as the reflection is, and little as you may feel it now, the 
messages which you hear from week to week from the consecra- 
ted desk, will advance you to a seat at the right hand of God, or 
sink you to the fiery depths of remorse and despair. That same 
word which you are now disposed to complain of as dry and unin- 
teresting is telling against your souls in the dooms-day-book of 
God such tales as must finally cover you with utter confusion and 
dismay. The truth of God will work ; it is this moment affecting 
your destiny with an influence beyond your control. As to the par- 
ticular issue of that influence, whether for better or for worse, is 
for you to determine by the manner in which you receive and im- 
prove it. But as to neutral ground, there is none for you to occu- 
py. Your relation to the truth is a positive one. It is not at your 
option to stay its influence upon you. Such is the nature of things 
that the intervention of the Deity to communicate with us on the 
great subject of our salvation, has placed us in relations and under 
responsibilities which must give complexion to our destiny. And 
as the sun enlivens and nourishes the tree that is planted in a good 
soil, but decomposes and destroys it if plucked up and laid on its 



96 



LECTURE IX. CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 



surface; so the word of God exerts itself upon us, quickening and 
saving all who faithfully receive and heed it, and hastening and 
augmenting the condemnation and ruin of those who disregard and 
reject it. 

The next thing predicated of the word of God is its power. — 
" The word of God is quick, and powerfuV There is a potency 
resident in the language and doctrines of the Scriptures which no 
other composition has equaled. This is to be inferred from the char- 
acter of its author, and is to be seen in a number of particulars. 

Its power is manifested in the aut]iority which it exercises over 
the conscience. The great defect of the heathen and infidel phil- 
osophy is that it lacks that inherent energy necessary to carry its 
teachings home to the heart, or to secure a general observance. 
This the philosophers themselves have in various ways acknowl- 
edged. There is much that is worthy of admiration in the wri- 
tings of many of them, and which also addressed itself to the com- 
mendation of the people ; but it never pressed itself upon their 
consciences with that pungency which characterizes the word of 
God. Heathen and infidel philosophy only addressed itself to the 
admiration of the intellect, but the word of God while it does this, 
also lays hold of the heart, it grasps the. springs of action, and 
grapples with the deepest and strongest impulses of the soul. 

Hence the fears Vv^hich it alarms and the trembling which it pro- 
duces in the guilty. See the paleness of Adam's face and his gen- 
eral shuddering, as he hears the voice of the Lord among the trees 
of the garden. Look at the dejected countenance and the remorse- 
ful goadings of David as Nathan announces to him the word of the 
Lord. Behold the confusion of faces, and hear the loud exclama- 
tions betokening the deep workings of soul in that vast congrega- 
tion under the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost. Look 
at Felix writhing and trembling beneath Paul's exhibition of the 
heavenly doctrines of " righteousness, temperance, and a judgment 
to come." See the smitten, heart-broken sinner with tearful eyes 
and clenched hands crying in the agon}^ of his soul What must 
I do to be saved Here you have a portrayal of the power there 
is in the word of God. 

But not only does it disturb the soul with fear and trembling on 
account of sin, but its power may be further seen in calming the 
water which it has troubled. How glorious are the effects which 



LECTURE IX. CHAPTER IT. 12, 13. 



97 



it brings about in the penitent heart! It not only slays man's nat- 
ural enmity to God and his laws, and works a passage into the soul, 
but it exerts a transforming influence over the whole spiritual na- 
ture. It weakens and finally destroys our disposition to wicked- 
ness — begets holy feelings and desires — and brings every impulse 
of the soul into subjection to the will of heaven. It reforms the 
whole outward conduct of the vicious, and blasts all those buds of 
undeveloped wickedness which lie concealed in the villainous bo- 
som. It tames the lion-like temper into lamb-like docility, and 
hushes the roar of angry feeling into tranquillity and repose. 

The word of God is the great instrument too which has brought 
about the most stupendous revolutionary movements which have 
marked the history of the last two thousand years. What was the 
power which attacked and overthrew those gigantic systems of in- 
fidelity and superstition which eighteen hundred years ago claimed 
possession of the entire world } What that kindled up throughout 
the entire extent of the realm of polytheism the flames of pure de- 
votion, and filled " all the world" with praise and glory to the one 
living and true God And when the fury of the flames which the 
apostles had lit up began to be subdued and quelled by the com- 
bined influence of papal assumptions and satanic subtlety — ^vhen 
the truth as it is in Jesus was buried up in the piles of superstition 
and error, and the Bible was locked from the world by a profligate 
clergy — what was the mighty engine which broke the bands which 
allied kings and emperors vainly struggled to throw off", and hurled 
those rending thunderbolts into the papal hierarchy } Was it not 
the word of God ^ And thou2:h that same word has been the most 

o 

severely tried by many foes, and by various forms of attack, has it 
not always come ofl" victorious, leaving behind it the most astonish- 
ing evidences of its power ! The revelations of eternity alone can 
fully tell the magnitude and glory of its accomplishments. 

Another property predicated of this word is, that it is sharp and 
piercing. " The word of God is quick, and powerful, sharper than 
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the 
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow." 

The comparison of the word of God to a sword is very frequent 
in the Scriptures. " The sword of God's mouth" is a very com- 
mon expression with the inspired writers. In the apocalypse he 
is represented as having a two-edged sword going out of his mouth. 
7 



98 



LECTURE IX. CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 



And many of the classic authors compare the word of their Deities 
to a sword. 

The two edges, or literally two mouths ascribed to the word of 
God are significant of its adaptation to pierce deeply and to devour 
every thing before it. It enters where nothing else can. It pierces 
to the heart — to the very centre of action — to the very motive pow- 
er of human nature. All the philosophy and religions which have 
flourished on anti- christian ground, were for the most part occupied 
with the external conduct, and at best with the mere intellectual 
and ideal. But the word of God has but little to do with the fan- 
cy — it goes farther than the intellect — and it never regards the out- 
ward act but as it appears in connection with the motive which 
prompted it. It enters at once into the hidden chambers of the 
heart. Passing by the court of the Gentiles, it pierces within the 
veil, and enters even the holy of holies. Leaving the stopping 
point of the most far reaching worldly philosophy behind it, it 
walks among the deep seats of the affections as upon familiar 
ground, and cuts to the quick of all human sensibility. Paul says 
it " pierces even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and 
of the joints and marrow." There are no depths in man which it 
does not penetrate — no heights which it does not scale — no lengths 
which it does not go — and no breadths which it does not cover. 
Bones are no shield against it ; it pierces through them to the mar- 
row. Flesh and blood cannot stay it ; " soul and spirit" are also 
subject to its action. Sharper than the lightning's vivid flash, it 
rushes to the seat of life, and cuts through the strongest resisting 
energies of our being. 

The sword is an instrument of death, and according to the rep- 
resentation of the text, it is a tendency of the word of God to pro- 
duce on the soul a certain kind of death. The distinction which 
the apostle makes between " soul and spirit," is the distinction be- 
tween the- mere animal life and the immortal soul. The same dis- 
tinction is elsewhere made. (See 1 Thes. v. 23.) Man has a body, 
and that body has a life distinct from the immaterial mind. The 
constitution so closely unites the two, that their separation is death. 
Hence when Paul speaks of their separation he virtually speaks of 
death, and that in the light of an effect of the word of God. Man 
by the word of God dies. All his carnal views and hopes expire. 
Thus says the apostle, " I was alive without the law once ; but 



LECTURE IX. CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 



99 



when the commandment came, sin revived and / diecl^^ External 
morality may for a time in the light of shortsighted humanity and 
false philosophy bolster up a decayed moral constitution, but when 
the deep searchings and keen piercings of the word of God are 
felt upon it, its rotten beams must break, and the v^diole fabric fall. 
Paul had for a long time lived a rigid Pharisee, strict in the obser- 
vances of that strict order, and with good hopes as he thought of 
final rest and reward ; but so soon as the word of God was brought 
to bear upon his conscience, and he began to examine his charac- 
ter in the piercing light of heaven, he at once sunk in despair. It 
is the province of the Divine word to slay the guilty. Every un- 
founded hope of the impenitent it kills. Every self-righteous and 
self-sustained sinner it cuts down under conviction, and prostrates 
him as if a sword had been plunged into his vitals. His flesh with- 
ers ; his bones consume away, and his very heart melts within him. 
Every branch of hope that is grafted upon human merit, it severs 
at the joint. And tliough that hope be encased in spiritless cere- 
monials as the marrow is by the bone, the word of God pierces 
through them, and slays it in the very castle of its supposed secu- 
rity. It is " sharper than any two-edged sicord^ piercing even to 
the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
marrow." 

The word of God is also affirmed to be " a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the hearth A number of very respectable 
expositors have contended that this is to be understood of God him- 
self, and not of his word. That God does discern the thoughts is 
a very clear point, " neither is there any creature that is not mani- 
fest in his sight; but all things are opened unto the eyes of him 
with whom we have to do." This fact seems however^^to be al- 
luded to as a proof and as an illustration of that peculiar property 
of the Divine word to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
Because God is cognizant of the secret movings of the inner man, 
therefore his word is a discerner of the same : and as his intimate 
acquaintance extends to the conceptions and purposes of the soul, 
so also his word, tends to give a clear discovery of the same. It 
brings out to viev\- the hidden thoughts and intents of the heart, and 
exhibits the internal character of a man. It acts like a mirror hold- 
ing up before the eyes of him who looks into it all the features of 
his own image. It makes men see what they really are by a de- 
lineation of the undeveloped thoughts. 



100 



LECTURE IX. — CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 



No man without the word of God can form a correct estimate of 
his own character. No man knows his own feelings or his own 
heart until the Divine word discerns it for him. Many a man has 
a deep and fixed hostility to God and to his Gospel, many a one is 
deceived and would remain totally ignorant of the fact until too 
late for repentance, were it not for the disclosures made by the 
faithful presentation of the word of God. Looking at the mere 
external conduct, there seems to be nothing in their history but 
what in their estimation is " pure, and lovely, and just, and honest, 
and of good report." But when the clear sun-light of the Divine 
word enters the soul, how many long-forgotten sins rise up to the 
recollection.? What new and odious complexions the outward 
conduct is made to assume ! What unsoundness of heart — what 
selfishness of purpose — what deep enormity of soul — what hellish 
plots of undeveloped wickedness are then brought up to the con- 
templation ! What undiscovered crimes are then detected in all 
their fiendish blackness.? What flaws appear in what was thought 
the most unexceptionable morality .? In how many instances do we 
see this property of the word of God to discern and criticise the 
propensities and suggestions of the heart manifested .? How often 
does it happen, that a man is made to see the whole of his charac- 
ter and some of the most private transactions of his life held up to 
his view, and drawn in such lively colors, as to induce the impres- 
sion that the preacher had been previously acquainted with his 
whole history ! 

I feel persuaded too, that there are some who now hear me, who 
have themselves experienced precisely what I am now speaking 
about. Some who can refer to periods in their lives, when, under 
the faithful preaching of the w^ord, their sins and impurities which 
had long escaped their memories began to crowd upon them — 
when their every act seemed to be an act of wickedness — when 
every thought and feeling seemed to call for the wrath of heaven, 
and the soul was crushed to the earth under the tremendous burden 
of its guilt. Has the word of God never shown you your charac- 
ter in a light in which you never before saw it .? Has it not dis- 
covered to you the most glaring impurities and imperfections in 
courses of conduct which you once thought entirely excusable if 
not virtuous .? Has it never made you see yourself covered with 
shame and guilt w^hich you never previously suspected .? Has it 



LECTURE IX. — CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 



101 



not heretofore proven in your particular case to be " a discerner 
of the thoughts and intents of the heart ?" Though men may en- 
deavor to hide their emotions and conceal their sins, the word of 
God will detect and expose their vileness, and bring them out in- 
to the open day. All is open and naked to the eyes of him who in- 
stituted and sends it; there is no creature that is not manifest in 
his sight ; no covering can hide from his all-searching gaze ; and 
every wickedness that is in man shall be discerned and exposed. 

Such then is a brief exhibition of the more striking properties of 
the word of God. It "is quick and powerful, and sharper than 
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the 
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of 
the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hence we learn 

1st. Its adaptedness to our wants and circumstances. It is pos- 
sessed of just such properties as best fit it to be the instrument of 
our salvation. It is the very thing to awaken — convert — and sanc- 
tify us. We are dead in trespasses and in sins. Our moral facul- 
ties in an unregenerate state lie in dormancy. There is neither 
movement toward obedience to the Divine law, nor toward meas- 
ures of recovery from the fall. But the word is quick — living — ac- 
tive. It can work, and will work upon the dead conscience, com- 
municating sensibility and life to the slumbering powers. 

After our awakening we need the influence of some high author- 
ity to check the evil outgoings of the natural heart, and to bring 
them under the dominion of conscience and law. Inclination still 
has the control, and faith is still held captive by sense. But the 
word of God is powerful. Bringing with it motives as strong as 
heaven and hell can furnish, and stamped with the mighty seal of 
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, it is the very thing to meet 
the case. It clothes the conscience with authority and power, and 
brings into captivity all the attributes of the soul. 

But even after moral principles have gained the ascendency, there 
is danger of resting upon a wrong foundation, and depending too 
much upon our own strength and goodness. Here again the case 
is met. The word is sharp and piercing. It totally deadens all 
self, kills all false hopes, and like a sword with a double edge de- 
vours everything which does not rest in Christ. 

Again, the decisions of conscience have more particular refer- 
ence to the conduct, than to the feelings of the heart. It seldom 



102 LECTURE IX. — CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 

or very indistinctly pronounces until the deed is done. Hence 
there is danger of being deceived. The disease might exist inter- 
nally just as really as if it had been outwardly manifested, and we 
still remain ignorant of the fact until discovery comes too late for 
salvation. But this difficulty is met in that property of the Divine 
word w^hich discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. So that 
it is just such an instrument as our case requires. 

2nd. Learn how to regard the hearing of the word of God. The 
hearing of a preached Gospel is something of a great deal more 
importance than men are generally disposed to think it. It is the 
leading and essential means of our salvation. Paul says " Whoso- 
ever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how 
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ^ And how 
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard I And how 
shall they hear without a preacher r'' From this we see that preach- 
ing is the fundamental agency, and hearing the word preached is 
the first step in the "work of our salvation. But do men regard it 
in this light } Do they sufficiently feel its claims ? Do they hear 
the word as proceeding from the highest authority in the universe, 
and as treating of the most important matters relating to human in- 
terests.? It is with deep regret that I must answer no. But. is it 
not plain from what has this morning been set before you, that it is 
our duty to God and to ourselves to give it our sincere and hearty 
attention } Looking at its properties, and the end for which it was 
sent, are we left to consult our own inclination or convenience in 
the matter ? I tell you my brethren, from the nature of the word 
it is clear that its weekly ministration in the sanctuary. is entitled to 
a great deal more solemnity and reverence than people are disposed 
to give it. 

Look at the awful import of these exercises. Why the church 
is the council-chamber of the great God, where every sentence of 
Gospel truth that is uttered, like the evidence in the case of a trial 
for murder, either tends to your acquittal and salvation, or to your 
condemnation and utter death. If you refuse to hear altogether, 
you are left without hope. If you hear improperly — with a biased 
mind or an obstinate heart, the word which you hear will be a 
swift witness against you in the day of judgment. How solemn- 
and critical is your position ! What anxious solicitude— what deep 
breathings of soul for the Divine assistance should you feel in the 
house of God ! 



LECTURE IX. — CHAPTER IV. 12, 13. 103 

. My brethren, it is a solemn thing to preach the word, but it is 
equally solemn to hear it. It is a soul-stirring thought for the min- 
ister, that his regular ministrations at the sacred desk are either to 
swell the company of the redeemed in glory, or sink his hearers 
to the deep caverns of hell ; but it is a thought equally moving for 
the hearer, that those pulpit messages to which he weekly listens 
are to prove in his individual case either " a savor of life unto life, 
or a savor of death unto death." Oh, that every one of you might 
feel the truth ! A new state of things would speedily be manifest- 
ed. The ear that is now listless would be open to every word that 
falls from the lips of the consecrated minister. The thoughts which 
are now roving amid the objects of this world would be taken up 
with those sublime truths which relate to our interest in the next. 
The affections which are now languid and dull would be strung with 
intensest interest. And every careless spectator would tremblingly 
confess, that this is none other than the house of God ! 

Let us then for the future endeavor to realize our true relation 
to the Divine word — to treat it with reverence — to hear it with hon- 
est hearts, that it may prove unto us the power of God and the 
wisdom of God unto the salvation of our souls. 



I 



LECTURE X. 



THE PRIESTHOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Heb. iv. 14 — 16, Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into 
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have 
not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity; but 
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come 
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help 
in time of need. 

The apostle here resumes the subject hinted at in the opening of 
the third chapter. Having considered Christ in comparison with 
Moses as " the apostle of our profession," he now comes to consid- 
er him as " the High Priest of our profession." 

The priesthood of Christ is one of the most interesting and im- 
portant features of his mediatorial office. Of the different subjects 
treated of in this epistle, it is the one in which Paul was most in- 
tensely engaged in exhibiting and sustaining. His comparison of 
Christ with the angels, is short. His comparison of him with Mo- 
ses, is still shorter. But his discussion of the dignity, duties, and 
utility of the christian Priesthood comprises the great bodyof the 
epistle. 

The probable reason why ihe apostle devoted so much time and 
space to this particular, was partly the clear insight which it affords 
of the christian economy, and partly the high estimate in which the 
Jews held the office of high Priest. The high priesthood was the 
most exalted and honored dignity of the Hebrew nation. On it de- 
volved the presidency of the great civil council of the Sanhedrim, 
as well as the performance of those religious ceremonies which 
constituted the life and soul of the Mosaic ritual. Looking upon it then 
as their chief national glory, and as an office essential to all acceptable 
religious observances, one great objection which the Jews brought 
against Christianity was the supposed absence of this office, and of 
those sacrificial rites which depended upon its exercise. " You 
have no tabernacle — no temple — no high priest — no sacrifices for 
sins; these enter into the very nature and idea of religion, and with- 
out them there can be none. Come then and go with us, who have 
8 



106 



LECTURE X. — CHAPTER IV. 14—16. 



the true temple and the true worship." This was the Jewish ar- 
gument and cry continually. Hence the apostle finds it important 
to show, that we have a priest, an authorized priesthood, one too 
superior to the Aaronic order. Such a course was demanded from 
him for the invalidation of an ohjection urged upon a correct prin- 
ciple, and for the vindication of the new religion. This argument, 
as we shall see, he has fully and effectually met. 

In discoursing from the words before us, I will 1st. Identify the 
priesthood of Jesus Christ, by pointing out those particulars rela- 
ted of him in the Scriptures which designate this office. 2nd. No- 
tice the pecuharities of his priesthood alluded to in the text. And 
3d. Consider the encouragements which his priesthood affords us. 

The first circumstance in the Savior's history which refers to his 
priesthood, is his baptism. It was an ancient law concerning the 
Jewish priesthood, that no one was permitted under the severest 
penalties to exercise the sacerdotal functions, until he had been pre- 
viously set apart for that purpose by a public ordinance or installa- 
tion. The punishment of Uzziah for a neglect of this laAv is well 
known ; how that when he presumed to offer incense to the Lord 
in the place of a consecrated priest, he was smitten with leprosy, 
degraded from his throne, and cut off from the house of Israel. — 
The ceremony of this ordination to the holy office, was differently 
performed by different individuals, at different times. Most com- 
monly however, by anointing the head with oil, as Moses did the 
head of Aaron. Christ as a Jew considered it necessary to yield 
obedience to this law. Hence he received baptism from the hands 
of John as the ordinance of induction into his priestly office. 

Observe here, that John's baptism was not christian baptism. — 
This was a distinct and subsequent institution. The intent and ul- 
timate object of John's mission was to ordain Christ to the high 
priesthood ; and in this way, as well as by leading the people to 
repentance, to prepare the way for the coming of the kingdom of 
heaven. John himself speaks of his mission in this light. He says 
according to the evangelist, " that he (viz. Christ in his official ca- 
pacity) might be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come bap- 
tizing with water." Jesus too, when he came to be baptized and 
was forbid by John, said, " Suffer it to be so now, for thus it be- 
cometh us to fulfill all righteousness." In other words, let me be 
baptized that the ancient laws and customs may all be strictly ob- 



LECTURE X. — CHAPTER IV. 14 — 16. 



107 



served. Here the reference is obviously to the ancient law con- 
cerning the ablution and consecration of the priests; for there is 
nothing else in the whole Jewish code bearing upon the event which 
was then about to take place. And though it is true that John did 
baptize others, he did it only upon the conditions of their repent- 
ance and their faith in the coming Messiah, and not as he baptized 
the Savior. Christ was without sin, consequently there could be 
no repentance on his part ; he was Messiah himself, and hence 
could not have been baptized in the faith of his own advent. When 
therefore this ordinance was administered to him, it had another and 
higher signification. And it is a fact worthy of notice, that he did 
not perform one single duty of his mission, nor perform one single 
public action, until after his ordination by the Baptist of Jordan. — 
Thus also teaching us, that John was endowed with the high au- 
thority to set him apart by this public ordinance as the great High 
Priest of our fallen world. 

But the priesthood of Christ will be further manifested from a 
consideration of the fact, that all the duties which devolved upon 
the Jewish high priests in their priestly capacity he has perform- 
ed, or according to the Scriptures, ivill perform. 

One very important duty devolving upon the Jewish high priest 
was to receive by Urim and Thummim the revelations of the Divine 
will, and to communicate them to the people. Whenever any great 
questions relating to religion or state policy, or which in any way 
affected the interests of the Hebrew people, were to be decided, it 
was one of their high privileges to receive direction immediately 
from God. The holy oracle however, was always to be consult- 
ed through the high priest. Arrayed in his sacred vestments, it 
was for him to present himself before the veil of the holy of holies, 
there to inquire of the Lord, and then to communicate to the peo- 
ple all the intimations of the Divine mind. Whether God answer- 
ed their propositions by an audible voice from within, or by cer- 
tain signs and intimations, it is neither my business nor in my pow- 
er to determine. The instances of such inquiry recorded in the 
Scriptures, the case of Joshua — of the Israelites during the civil 
war with Benjamin — that, when Saul was appointed to the throne — 
of David — and of others, are amply sufficient to prove tluit Jeho- 
vah did give responses to his perplexed and inquiring people ; and 
that it was the duty of the high priest to receive and deliver them. 



108 



LECTURE X. — CHAPTER IV. 14 16. 



Jesus Christ has performed the same duty, and exercised the 
same high function of the priestly office. He too has presented 
questions — questions of infinite moment and universal concernment. 
He too has received and communicated the glorious intimations of 
his heavenly Father. That all absorbing mquiry, hoio shall man 
he saved ? which baffled all the combined created wisdom in the 
universe, he has heard answered at the throne, and proclaimed from 
the rivers to the ends of the earth — " Whosoever believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved." This world before his advent was cov- 
ered with moral darkness. The nations groaned beneath the gen- 
eral gloom. And the few w^ho endeavored to grope their way 
through it, had almost given up in despair. Reason and philoso- 
phy had spent their strength, but in vam. Darkness still covered 
the earth, and gross darkness the people. But when Christ came 
into the w^orld, the light of heaven came with him. The voice of 
the Deity was in him, and spoke through him to the relief of the 
perplexed and the instruction of the ignorant. As he opened his 
saintly lips, darkness and difficulty fled ; and the gentiles came to 
his light, and kings to the brightness of his rising. 

Another important duty devolving upon the high priest as we 
learn from Leviticus, (chap, x.) was once a year, on the great day 
of expiation, to offer an atonement for the sins of the people. Those 
who are familiar with the sacred things, places, and rites of the 
Jews will easily recollect, that a particular apartment of the tem- 
ple, about the centre of that magnificent edifice, was set apart for 
the exclusive dwelling place of th^ Almighty ; and that there, over 
the ark of the testimony, and between the golden cherubim, his vis- 
ible presence was manifested in the form of a bright and hovering 
cloud. To this sacred place which was called the holy of holies, 
it was the duty of the high priest, having undergone certain pre- 
scribed purifications, w^ith his hands and garments stained with 
blood, to enter wnth fear and trembling, there to sprinkle the blood 
of atonement on tlie Mercy-seat, and thus offer up before the majes- 
ty of the most high God an expiation for the sins of the people. 

The same duty of the priestly office has been performed by Je- 
sus Christ. " Seeing that all high priests are ordained to offer gifts 
and sacrifices, it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also 
to offer." He too has made an expiation for his people's sins. — 
Girt in all the rich regalia of his office, covered with the blood 



LECTURE X. CHAPTER IV. 14 16. 



109 



which flowed from his own veins, he passed into the heavens^ and 
there otfered up himself before his eternal Father as the great atone- 
ment for the transo-ressions of a rebel world. The whole strain of 

o 

the New Testament is, that "he died for our sins according to the 
Scriptures" — that he bore our sins in his own body" — and that 
he is " the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for 
the sins of the whole world." 

Another prominent duty assigned to the high priest w^as that of 
passing judginent. And though tliere were civil judges in each city 
whose duty it was to exercise judicial authority in the neighboring 
villages, yet ail weighty causes and all appeals went up to the su- 
preme authority which was lodged for the most part in the priest- 
hood. In the hook of Deuteronomy (chap. 17.) we find an enact- 
ment to this effect : If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judg- 
ment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between 
stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: 
then shalt thou arise and get thee up into the place which the Lord 
thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests and 
Levites^ and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire ; 
and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment : and thou shalt 
do according to the sentence which they shall show thee." In 
Ezekiel (chap, xliv.) we read again of the priesthood, "and in con- 
troversy they shall stand in judgment, and they shall judge it ac- 
cording to my judgments." (See also 2 Chron. xix.) In cases in 
which questions of purity were implicated, the decision devolved 
upon the priests as an exclusive prerogative. As for instance in 
cases of disease, contamination, &c. In fact, from the entrance of 
the Israelites into Canaan up to the rebellion when Saul was made 
king, the whole executive power of the Mosaic institutions was 
reposed in the high priest. Hence it was for him to pass final and 
decisive judgment in every case of controversy which came before 
him. 

To Jesus Christ has been allotted similar judicial authority. — 
The Scriptures declare that "the Father judgeth no man ; but hath 
committed all judgment unto the Son; and hath given him author- 
ity to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man." " God," 
says the apostle, " hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge 
the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained ; 
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised 
him from the dead." 



110 LECTURE X. — CHAPTER IV. 14 16. 

And though Christ has not yet come to the full exercise of the 
judicial functions of his priestly office, the Scriptures positively as- 
sure us that the day is rapidly approximating when he will. His 
second coming, when every eye shall see him, clothed in the gran- 
deur of his judicial power, is invariably spoken of as an impending 
event. Time on the rapid wings of her flight, is bringing us near- 
er and nearer the day of final reckoning. Soon shall the sheeted 
dead be startled from their graves by the clarion notes of the trump 
of God ; and the melting elements, troubled heavens, and general 
conflagration flash upon us the awful truth, that the day of judg- 
ment has come ! Soon shall the whole canopy above us, spread 
with one wide sheet of fire, display to our astonished race that 
Great High Priest, before whose dread tribunal every soul must 
stand, and whose solemn and irrevocable sentence fixes the wicked 
in everlasting despair, and the righteous in the kingdom of glory ! 

Here then we have the christian priesthood clearly identified. — 
Christ having complied with all the regulations respecting the 
priestly order, as well as having exercised all the high functions 
and discharged all the duties of the same ; the conclusion is obvi- 
ous, Christ is a priest in the Jewish conceptions of that office ; 
and the declaration of the apostle is justified, viz. that " we have a 
great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of 
God." 

We come then in the second place to consider the peculiarities in 
Christ's priestly character. It doubtless has struck the most of you 
already, that Paul here calls the Savior a great High Priest." — 
We have heretofore had occasion to contemplate the personal dig- 
nity, and the apostolic dignity of Christ. As to his superior priest- 
ly greatness^ there are many particulars which yet claim attention. 
Among these we may enumerate the order of his priesthood — its 
duration — the dignity and sufficiency of his sacrifice — the efficacy 
and universality of his mediation — the w^isdom of his judicial deci- 
sions, &c. But as these are points which will be more amply de- 
veloped as we proceed in the Epistle, I will here pass them over 
with this simple notice. 

It is further affirmed of the priesthood of Christ, that it is a 
heavenly priesthood^ "Seeing then that we have a great High 
Priest that is passed into the heavens?^ The Jews had enumerated 
a great variety of heavens. According to them the dwelling-place 



LECTURE X. 



. — CHAPTER ly. 14 — 



16. 



Ill 



of God was above the firmaiiient, or in tlie third heaven. Through 
this firmament, or inferior heaven, Jesus passed when lie ascended 
to take his seat " at the right hand of the majesty on high." The 
high priest under the law went in out of the people's sight into the 
sacred chamber, where the signals of the Divine presence were 
manifested, and there offered the expiation for the sins of Israeh — 
So our high Priest has passed ^vithin the veil which separates be- 
tween us and heaven, into the immediate presence of God, in the 
holiest of all, there to atone for the guilty penitent, and to admin- 
ister pardon and salvation to ihe spiritual Israel. He is a heaven- 
ly priest — heavenly in his origin — heavenly in the nature of his dis- 
pensations — and heavenly in the place in which he operates. 

The text further declares Christ to be a sinless priest. " Though 
in all points tempted like as we, yet without sin."' Various and 
full is the testimony which we have upon this point. Inspired 
apostles, jealous and despiteful Jews, and incredulous heathen have 
all without discrepancy deposed the same thing. Though he lived 
for many years m a wicked world, subject to all the evil influences 
of the world, and tried by all the temptations which beset human 
life ; not the slightest traces of wrong were discernable in all his 
actions or his words. He was " holy, harmless, undefiled, and sep- 
arate from sinners." His piety was uniform and complete ; his 
performance of the duties Vvhich he owed to mankind was equally 
perfect ; and his prudence, integrity, benevolence, and disinterest- 
edness were all unparalleled and unimpeachable. The traitor who 
betrayed him, confessed that he had " betrayed innocent blood." 
The timid judge who consigned him to the cross declared i find 
no fault in this man." Levitical priests were all men, with natures 
depraved as other men, and had need to ofler sacrifices for them- 
selves. But our High Priest is without sin ; and hence he is able 
also to assist and save sinners who put their trust in him. 

Christ Jesus was moreover a compassionate and ^sympathising 
high priest. " For we have not an high priest which cannot be 
touched with the feeling of our infirmity, but was in all points 
tempted like as we are." Unlike the Jewish priests who were 
hard-hearted, and apparently insensible to the troubles and distres- 
ses of those around them, he is merciful and kind. The Jewish 
priests were prohibited by their law from indulging in grief even 
at the misfortunes or death of relations. There was no sort of sym- 



112 



LECTURE X. CHAPTER IV. 14 16. 



pathy between them and the people. But our High Priest is not 
thus cold and unfeeling. He can be touched with the feeling of 
our infirmity. Having endured similar temptations to those which 
assail his followers, he knows our frailties and our weaknesses.— 
He knows what it is to suffer. He too has passed through the 
fiery ordeal of this world's tribulations. He too has toiled, and 
prayed, and wept, and agonized, and died. He knows how to feel 
for those who are struggling after him against the winds and tide 
of this troublesome world. He understands our sorrows and our 
grief; and like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord piti- 
eth them that fear him." Yes, my brethren, Jesus feels for us in 
our perplexities and troubles. His bowels of compassion stir with 
tenderness as he sees us encompassed with temptation and danger, 
or weighed down with adversity. Before the throne he ever stands 
in the overflowings of his pity and his love interceding for us. He 
rejoices with us in every victorious step we gain ; and weeps with 
us over every folly and every fall. His friendly hand is ever ex- 
tended to support us and to lead us ; and all the kind sympathies of 
his nature combine to draw us to himself. A truly precious High 
Priest is ours ! 

We come now to consider finally, the encouragements given by 
the apostle in the text in virtue of the Savior's priesthood. " See- 
ing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the 
heavens, Jesus the Son of God ; let us hold fast our profession." — 
Here is the first encouragement. This applied with much greater 
force to the Jewish converts to Christianity, whom Paul wished to 
preserve from apostacy, than to us. The Je^vish christians in apos- 
tolic times w^ere placed in very unfavorable circumstances. They 
were beset and harassed on every side by those who contended for 
the Levitical observances as essential to the salvation of the soul. 
All their natural feelings and prejudices also ran in that direction. 
Often were they severely tried with the vexed and vexing ques- 
tions of those Jewish teachers. Hence their faith was unstable. 
Sometimes they were ready to give up, and many did apostatize. 
The apostle in this epistle comes to the help of such, he hurls back 
the iii-founded and sophistical objections of the Rabbies and the 
DoctoLs, and tells his brethren in the Gospel now to hold fast their 
prot' - sion. As though he had said, "I have now fairly answered 
thos( ^udaizing casuists who have seen fit to charge us with the 



LECTURE X. — CHAPTER IV, 14 16. 



113 



want of one of the constituent elements of true religion ; I have 
now shown you that we have a priest, a great High Priest, a sin- 
less and compassionate priest ; I have now settled your difficulties ; 
henceforth allay your fears, hold fast the new doctrine, go not af- 
ter those Jewish objectors, stand firm in the profession you have 
made, for you shall not be disappointed !" 

But the priesthood of Christ furnishes rich encouragement for the 
christian professor in the present day, to hold fast his profession. 
It furnishes reason sufficient to justify our clinging to the doctrines 
of the cross with the tenacity of martyrdom. For if religion be at 
all necessary to our well-being, and all history and experience teach 
us that it is, we have every desirable encouragement to embrace 
and cleave to the christian system. Here is a priesthood more no- 
ble and dignified than any thing that has preceded it. Here is the 
greatest sacrifice that was ever made for sin. Here we have the 
most satisfactory knowledge of our duty and of our reward for its 
observa-nce that has ever been communicated to fallen man. And 
if any religion will satisfy the restless cravings of the soul, if any 
thing will fill its high and heavenly aspirations, it is the rehgion of 
Jesus. Why not then hold fast our profession.? Why not with an 
apostolic heroism cling to the cross of Calvary ? 

My brethren, let me exhort and conjure you, by our great high 
Priesthood, to hold fast your profession. And though casuists, in- 
fidels, and devils use all their subtlety — lay their deepest plans — 
and bring out their deadliest weapons against you ; still ground 
yourselves immovably upon the Rock of Ages. Though some who 
were once by your side have become entangled by the snares of 
this world, and have thrown down their oars ; don't you make ship- 
wreck of your faith. Thougli you cross ruffled seas and troubled 
waters, ever stand firmly to your posts. Though tossed upon the 
mountain wave, or dashed into the gaping deep ; still fix your 
steady gaze upon the guiding star of Bethlehem, and shout to the 
Master's call, " Jesus, we come ! we come!" Uufurl your blood- 
stained colors to the sun ; let them stream in their native heaven; 
spread out your sails to the whistling blasts ; and trust to Christ 
your Captain and your God ! Soldiers of the cross, fight on, fight 
on ! the crown shall soon be given. Equip yourselves for the con- 
flict, and never quit the field, until you quit it in victory — final and 
eternal victory. And rather than submit your faith, like the last 



114 



LECTURE X. — CHAPTER IV. 14 — 16. 



brave Polish warrior who stood against the triumphant forces of 
Napoleon, rather than acknowledge a conqueror, wrap yourselves 
up in the unsullied folds of the flag under which you fought, and 
die amid the honors of a naartyr's heroism ! 

The further encouragement presented in view of the Savior's 
priesthood, is contained in these words : " Let us therefore come 
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find 
grace to help in time of need." 

There is here great majesty of conception, as well as beauty of 
expression. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of 
graced In the Jewish tabernacle and temple, the place of expia- 
tion, or propitiatory, was called the mercy-seat. It was a mere seat. 
The idea is that of an inferior and temporary abiding place, where 
these blessings were but imperfectly dealt out. But this is the 
throne — the supreme exaltation — the place where mercy and grace 
are found and imparted in all their royal richness and fulness. To 
this supreme and heavenly propitiatory we are encouraged to come ; 
not as the Jewish ecclesiastical functionaries approached the holy 
place, with fear and trembling, but boldly. We are to come with 
confidence that we shall be accepted of him who is so compassionate 
and kind. 

" Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace," says 
the apostle, " that we may obtain mercy.''^ Mercy is the great and 
needed blessing. Pardon for sin has been the object of man's high- 
est aspirations and most untiring exertions. It has been sought 
with more intense and general eagerness than the philosopher's 
stone of the ancients. Sin has been the burden of all people in all 
ages ; but salvation from its guilt and power was something after 
w^hich all labored, struggled, and bled in vain. Divers were the 
plans adopted and the courses pursued for its attainment. Sensual 
indulgence — the laurels of fame — the sceptres of power — with all 
the ethics of skeptical philosophy have been repeatedly tried, and 
as often failed. Self-denial the most rigid was undergone — pil- 
grimages the most arduous were performed — cruelties the most 
shocking were perpetrated — monks and hermits tortured away their 
lives on the racks of ascetic devotion — blood was shed in torrents 
■ — victims were slain — infants were sacrificed, but mercy — mercy 
was still the cry. With the first entrance upon the theatre of life, 
the cry was mercy. At every successive change and development 



LECTURE X. — CHAPTER IV. 14 16. 



115 



of human existence, the cry was mercy. And from the old man with 
limbs palsied in death, and lifting his stricken and dimming eyes 
from the mouth of the grave, the cry w^as mercy., mercy ! until his 
voice was hushed in the silence of the tomb ! All the elements of 
nature have been disturbed in the general commotion. The whole 
creation has groaned and travailed together in pain for deliverance. 
And the smitten world, tortured and tossed by disappointment and 
remorse, has for centuries been stretching out her hands and lifting 
up her imploring voice for mercy, mercy ! 

Here then is the great, the supplicated blessing — Mercy ! Flere 
is the priceless treasure free and abundant for all who will come. 
Was there ever so great a benefaction proffered to our race ! Here 
is peace and rest for the troubled and the weary. For the wretch- 
ed sinner, friendless, homeless, starving, riven by sore judgments, 
and blighted by misfortune and death, here is a full redemption 
from all his woes. Prisoners of sin, and captives of Satan ! here 
is liberty. Come, says the apostle, come boldly, come to the 
throne, come at onCe to the king and receive your freedom ; aye, 
the freedom of the sons of God ! 

Nor is this encouragement merely to come for mercy, that great- 
est of heaven's gifts to man, but also for grace to help in time of 
wee(/." From this language I infer, that there are periods in the 
history of every man, when he will have special need of Divine 
help and grace. Yea, and these seasons of necessity are both nu- 
merous and frequent. The whole life of man, is a life of exposure 
and dependence. He is ever at the mercy of the winds and of the 
waves. All alike are subject to disease, disappointment, and dis- 
tress. The shades of adversity will at some point fall upon every 
one's path through life. But when these times of gloom and sor- 
row come—when tribulation rolls upon us — when misfortune as- 
sails and poverty blights — when disease lays it heavy hand upon 
us, and death snatches away our friends and hides them in the tomb 
— when each star of hope one by one expires, and comfort after 
comfort withers — when the broken spirit begins to sink, and keen 
despair steals in upon the soul, surely then God's helping grace is 
needed to succor and to save. 

But there is a season awaiting us all of far more extreme neces- 
sity. I mean the season of death. Death is that stern foe of our 
race that levels all the living, and lays the lofty, the gifted, and the 



116 



LECTURE X. — CHAPTER. IV. 14 16. 



learned, and the form of the lowly together in the dust. The con- 
quered subjects of its gloomy realm mingle with the ground of ev- 
ery clime, and slumber in the crystal depths of every sea. None 
are exempted from a strict obedience to this great law of nature 
and of God. And when the hour of our departure comes, if un- 
aided and unsupported by Divine grace, it is a dreadful and hon^if- 
ic hour. And nothing but that grace can render it otherwise. — 
Wealth, friends, honor, genius are all the same as poverty and low- 
liness in the eyes of death. These things can neither mitigate its 
gloom, nor divest it of its bitter sting. Queen Elizabeth was the 
occupant of a mighty throne, the resources of half Europe were at 
her command, nobles and grandees were her attendants ; yet in that 
dread hour she was so overwhelmed with horror and dismay, 
that she died with the frantic and despairing exclamation on her 
lips, " Millions of worlds for an inch of time !" Voltaire was a 
man of genius, and the who]e intellect of France did homage to his 
will ; yet that great apostle of infidelity, hardened as he was, evin- 
ced such furious and despairing rage in his last moments, that even 
his physicians retired, declaring the death of the wicked too terri- 
ble to be witnessed ! But we have the testimony of one greater 
than these to the intolerable horrors of a hopeless death. There 
was an incarnate God once felt its power and endured its sting. — 
But even Jesus, who could bear all other woe without a murmur, 
at the mere taste of its bitterness cried out, Father, if it be possi- 
ble, let this cup pass from me !" And no sooner had its dregs pass- 
ed his lips than his crushed spirit cried out in untold agony, " My 
God ! My God ! why hast thou forsaken me !" And if he who was 
so eminently calculated to suffer, was thus bruised and trampled, 
what must be the indescribable gloom and anguish of poor helpless 
sinners who die with their sins unrepented of and unforgiven ! " My 
soul, come not thou into their secret." 

But thanks be unto God, our great High Priest has made provi- 
sion for every emergency. The throne of grace which he has ren- 
dered accessible, furnished the needed assistance. Here is grace 
to help in every time of need. And when w^e have the Divine grace 
to support us, let come what will, all will still be well. We shall 
then outride the severest storms of tribulation — our tears shall be 
dried — and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Death then shall 
be robbed of its terrors, and the grave of its gloom. When grace 



LECTURE X. CHAPTER IV. 14 16. 



117 



sustains, it is no dreadful thing to die. Our departure is tlien like 
an autumnal sunset, calm and glorious. Unlike the deluded infidel 
who sinks amid the horrid blackness of despair, tlie spirit of the 
christian, like the morning star, peacefully loses itself in tfie bright- 
ness of heaven. No frightful spectres then haunt us to the tomb. 
No dread forebodings oppress the departing soul. Guardian angels 
gently waft it home to the soft bosom of its waiting God ! 

" Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace." Let 
no considerations keep you away. Come now while the gates of 
mercy are open. Come each one, and make yourselves partakers 
of those rich and gracious provisions which are able at all times to 
sustain you, and finally help you set your foot on the neck of your 
last and mightiest foe, and to shout " Victory" over death and the 
grave ! 

My brethren, we are now about to celebrate the holy supper of 
the Lord, which he instituted on the last eve of his earthly exist- 
ence, and commanded all iiis followers to observe in remembrance 
of him. And though I am not authorized to say that tliis is the throne 
of grace to which we are encouraged to come ; I nevertheless stand 
on scriptural ground when I state, that there is grace enthroned in 
this ordinance. There is an efficacy in it which those only who re- 
alize can appreciate. There is a joy and a sweetness in its observ- 
ance which greatly endears the Savior to the pious heart. There 
is something in it more pleasing to the christian's taste, and more 
nourishing to his fainting soul, than all the pleasures of sense. Then 
let me encourage you to come to this heavenly feast. Let no one 
tarry carelessly behind. Come, sit down at the table of the com- 
mon Lord ; and the great Master of assemblies will be there, to 
break unto your believing hearts the bread of everlasting life. May 
the presence of the Lord be with us ! 



LECTURE XI. 



THE aUALIFICATIONS OF A PRIEST. 

Heb. V. 1 — 10. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men 
in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 
who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; 
for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he 
ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh 
this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as loas Aaron. So also 
Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, 
Thou art my Son, to day have 1 begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, 
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his 
flesli, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and 
tears unto him that Vv^as able to save him from death, and was heard in that he 
feared ; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he 
suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto 
all them that obey him ; called of God an high priest after the order of Mel- 
chisedec. 

The full and satisfactory establishment of Christ's priesthood, 
and a complete answer of all the objections which Jewish ingenu- 
ity could bring against it, were matters of essential importance to 
the apostle's purpose in this epistle. Accustomed to look upon 
themselves as heaven's exclusive favorites, and to regard their 
priesthood and its rites and sacrifices as the only efficacious in the 
world, Paul might have talked and written about the atonement of 
Christ and its glorious sufficiency until the end of Time, and not 
gained one single convert from Judaism, so long as he had not 
proven his authority to exercise the sacerdotal functions. Nor were 
the Jews to blame for contending for a properly authorized priest- 
hood, and one bearing as strong evidences as the priesthood of 
Aaron, as necessary to the existence of true religion among men. 
Knowing that the Aaronic order was of Divine appointment, it was 
the part of piety and wisdom to hold it fast to the utter exclusion 
of every other, until that which was proposed in its place was 
shown to be of equal authority, and to possess even more desirable 
excellencies. This was the true principle in the case; one which 
Paul fully acknowledges, and upon which he agrees to join with 
them in resting the issues of the controversy. In the text the apos- 
tle proceeds to inquire into the requisite qualifications of an Aaronic 



LECTURE XI. — CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



119 



priest; and secondly, to show, that Christ really did possess these 
very qualifications, and that in a superior degree. 

The first particular mentioned, is, that every true priest must be 
ordained from among men to superintend and direct the concerns 
w^hich man has with his God. " For every high priest taken from 
among men is ordained for men in things pertaining lo God, that he 
may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." Here we have a clear 
definition of the priestly office, and a brief statement of all its con- 
stituent elements. 1st. A priest must be " ordained i. e. he must 
be set apart for the particular purposes of his office. There must 
be a formal recognition of his right to hold the priestly dignity. — 
All legitimate priests were thus ordained. The house of Aaron 
and the sons of Levi were set apart by the most solemn ceremonies. 
Nor was the exercise of the priestly functions ever tolerated in 
any one w^ho had not been ordained. 2nd. A priest must be ^' taken 
from among men'''' for this office. It is human interest that is con- 
cerned, and it requires a human being to superintend the matter. 
None but man is admitted into the presence of God in man's behalf 
There must be an identity of nature in the person offering gifts and 
sacrifices, and those for whom they are oflTered. Otherwise there 
would be incongruity in the manner in which the law is met. Debts 
are transferable, but not crimes. The same nature which sinned 
must make and present the atonement, or die. It was man that 
transgressed, and it is only with man that an adjustment can be ef- 
fected. Hence every high priest is " taken from among men^ — 
3d. A priest is one who ministers as the representative of his fel- 
lows. He is set apart for the performance of a work touching the 
welfare of the multitude in whose name he officiates. He stands 
between a sinful world and an angry God, to propitiate the offended 
Lawgiver toward his guilty subjects. 4th. His province is essenti- 
ally confined to religion. " For every high priest taken from among 
men is ordained t^or men in things pertaining to God.'''' None but 
religious transactions and devotional exercises primarily belong to 
the duties of his office. 5th. It devolved upon him particularly 

to offer gifts and sacrifices for sms." The Jewish worship con- 
sisted of two kinds of offerings: thank- off er'mgs and sacrificial- 
oflerings. The former acknowledged God as the Creator and 
bountiful Dispenser of good ; the latter acknowledged him as Sov- 
ereign and Judge, whose laws they had broken, and whose favor 



120 



LECTURE XI. CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



they desired to secure. The gifts spoken of in the text, refer to 
all those oblations which were expressive of gratitude ; such as the 
fruits of the earth, wine, meal, w^afers, and sometimes slain animals. 
The sacrifices comprehend all those bloody offerings which were 
made for the atonement of guilt, consisting of various kinds of vic- 
tims, whose lives were taken and whose blood was poured out be- 
fore the Lord to expiate the sins of the people. These gifts and 
sacrifices when presented by the people, it was the chief business 
of the priest to offer. To this intent w^as the priestly office in- 
stituted. Nor can any one properly be called a priest^ unless he 
have offerings of this kind to make; much less could a priesthood 
having no sacrifices to present avail anything in behalf of those for 
whom it is exercised. The offering of gifts and sacrifices consti- 
tuted the very marrow and life — the great and essential element of 
the priestly dignity. And there never was a legitimate priesthood 
where this did not enter as the chief idea. 

But the apostle mentions some further natural qualifications as 
indispensable to a legitimate priesthood. " Who can have compas- 
sion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way; for that 
he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason here- 
of, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins." From 
these w^ords we learn, that a priest must be able to enter into the 
feelings and wants of those for whom he is to officiate. Two things 
may be affirmed of guilty men, they are ignorant and erring. Their 
ignorance consists in wrong views of God and of man's relations 
and obligations to him. And having no proper conceptions upoji 
these fundamental points, they are subject to stumble, fall, and run 
into every imaginable wickedness. A priest must be able to make 
allowances for their untoward circumstances, and to consider the 
difficulties of their situation and the infirmities which beset them, 
in order that he might be kind and lenient, as well as faithful to 
their spiritual interests. And this may be intended as another rea- 
son W' hy every priest must be taken from among men. He must 
have a fellow-feeling for those whose interests he superintends. — • 
Nothing but the actual experience of the infirmities of human na- 
ture can furnish a proper conception of them. Men often blame 
and denounce each other for not breaking off from certain vices or 
evil practices; but doubtless their condemnation would be consid- 
ei'ably modified and much kindlier means employed, if those rigid 



LECTURE XI. — CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



121 



judges could only once feel the power of the temptations or the 
difficulties of instant reform. Hence a priest must have a common 
nature with the people, so as to have an experimental knowledge 
of their feelings and their wants, and be able to press his interces- 
sions with a corresponding urgency. "Being himself compassed 
with infirmity," and feeling himself the power of sin and the neces- 
sity and importance of his office, he will be the more disposed to 
faithfulness in the exercise of its functions, and be the more diligent 
in presenting those sacrifices which alone can atone for guilt. 

Another particular mentioned by Paul as necessary to make out 
the claims of an individual to the priestly office is, a Divine call. 
" And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called 
of God, as was Aaron." The necessity of a Divine vocation to the 
priestly order is manifest from the nature of the case. We have 
seen that a priest is one who ministers between man and God, to 
effect a reconciliation between them. And though it can be pro- 
ductive of no advantage to the Deity, and man's interests alone are 
concerned ; yet, the appointment of the individual to this office de- 
volves entirely upon God, for two reasons. 1st. He is the injured 
party and man the offender, and it belongs to him, and not to the 
criminal to say whether a priest shall be admitted at all. God 
could be just, and yet refuse to be reconciled. Men can enter no 
claims upon the least favor from him. They have no reasonable 
plea why the full penalty of the law should not be executed upon 
them. Hence it is for the Almighty to say whether a mediator shall 
be admitted. 2nd. It is the sole prerogative of God as the Sover- 
eign and proprietor of the world to say who is acceptable to him, 
and who is the proper person to be intrusted with so important a 
work. Had men the selection of their own priests, they might call 
such "as Jehovah would not regard, or such as were otherwise un- 
worthy of the ofiice. 

In accordance with these principles God has ever claimed the 
appointment of the Priests. Aaron who w^as the first and greatest 
high priest of the Mosaic economy, was called by the Lord in a 
peculiar and miraculous manner. He was even named by name. — 
The law respecting his successors also required as clear evidence 
that they were called to the holy office by the Lord, as though they 
had been designated by name. The sacred enactments of Moses 
very clearly defined all the necessary qualifications, and none could 
9 



122 



LECTURE XI. CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



be legitimately endowed with holy orders who had not these pres- 
cribed- qualities. Where they existed however, they furnished the 
most decisive evidence of a Divine vocation. And though this of- 
fice was greatly degraded from its original dignity in the days of 
Paul, and the prescriptions of the law in reference to it were but 
little regarded ; yet, such was the only priesthood which the Lord 
acknowledged. 

Having defined the requisite qualifications of a Jewish priest, the 
apostle proceeds to show that Jesus Christ eminently possessed 
them all. In discussing this branch of the subject, he reverses the 
order observed above, and begins with the qualification last men- 
tioned ; viz : the Divine call. " So also Christ glorified not him- 
self to be made an high priest; for he that said unto him, (as be- 
fore quoted i. 5,) Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee; 
also saith in another place. Thou art a priest forever after the or- 
der of Melchizedek." (Psa. ex. 4.) That these words, and the 
Psalm from which they are taken, apply to Christ the Messiah is 
evident from the following considerations. 1st. It is a Psalm of 
David, but it applies to one superior to him whom he even calls 
Lord." 2nd. It does not refer to Jehovah, for there is a very 
plain distinction made between him and the personage addressed. 
Sd. There cannot be a reference to any of David's contemporaries, 
for there were none to whom he could or would have attributed 
this exalted superiority. 4th. Nor were there any but the Messiah 
among all his posterity to whom it could apply. 5th. Christ has 
expressly ascribed it to himself. (Matt. xxii. 43, 44.) 6th. The 
whole scope of the Psalm is such as to intimate its application to 
Christ. 7th. The apostle proceeds upon its application to the ^les- 
siah in a manner which plainly indicates the admission on the part 
of the Jews that they so understood it. If then the position refer- 
ing this Psalm to a description of Christ be established, the question 
respecting the Divine authority of his priesthood is conclusively 
settled. He did not glorify himself to be made an high priest — he 
did not ambitiously obtrude himself into this great office. The 
Lord Jehovah himself has called him to this dignity ; and though 
he was neither of the house of Aaron, nor of the tribe of Levi, 
has said unto him, " Thou art a priest forever after the order of 
Melchizedek." So far then as respects the Divine appointment of 
Christ's priesthood, all difficulty is obviated, and the point is de- 
cided. 



LECTURE XI. CHAPTER V. 1 — 10. 



123 



The next point in order which the apostle comes to consider re- 
lates to the natural qualifications of the Savior for the holy office. 
Verses 7, 8, 9. " Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered 
up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him 
that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he 
feared ; though a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things w^hich 
he suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the author of eter- 
nal salvation unto all them that obey him." We saw a little while 
ago, that it is requisite in a priest that he have a fellow feeling with, 
and be able to enter into the wants and exercises of those for whom 
he officiates. We saw too that in order to this, he must himself 
experience the infirmities of their condition ; that he must have 
their nature, and be placed in similar relations with them. To meet 
this necessity, Christ left heaven and became a man like ourselves 
except our sins. " The Word was made flesh." He took human- 
ity with all its infirmities and sufferings upon him; and placed him- 
self just in such circumstances, and such a situation, as acquainted 
him experimentally with the very essence of this world's wo. The 
history of " the days of his flesh" as repects sufferings, is contained 
in the graphic language of the text. It w^as the lot of the Lord in 
his humanity to " offer up prayers and supplications with strong 
crying and tears." It was the very bitterest of mortal agony that 
he endured. Where there is necessity for "prayers and supplica- 
tions," there must be a sense of exposure and dependence. W^here 
there is " strong crying and tears," there must be deep and over- 
whelming distress. On earth he was poor, despised and rejected of 
men, homeless, friendless, subject to the brutal will of cruel foes, 
dependent upon the cold charities of an unfeeling world, tempted 
by all the subtle inventions of Satanic genius, and pressed down 
with a depth of distress w^hich wrung the blood from his pores and 
the bitter cry from his crushed spirit — " Father, if it be possible, 
let this cup pass from me !" The fear of death he felt in common 
with men. Reverence and obedience he rendered unto God the 
Fatlier, though he was a Son. And if experience of suffering 
qualifies for a warm sympathy with those who are similarly dis- 
tressed, then surely Christ has advanced to an eminence in this 
qualification attained by none of the house of Aaron. So practi- 
cally and perfectly is he acquainted wnth the wants and feelings of 
man, that he is completely fitted to be our high Priest. He is just 



124 



LECTURE XI. CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



such a priest as the law describes and our case requires. Being 
himself connpassed with infirmity, he is full of tender sympathy for 
those whose salvation he has undertaken to superintend. And 
being made (thus) perfect, he became the author of eternal salva- 
tion unto all them that obey him." ^ 

This point being disposed of, the apostle comes next to exhibit 
the nature of Christ's priesthood, particularly in comparison with 
that defined in the law. Here he remarks that Christ's priesthood 
is of the same rank or order with that of Melchizedek. " Called 
of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek." But here 
the argument abruptly stops. Finding that he had hit upon a sub- 
ject which must be offensive to the Jews, and which came in direct 
conflict with a host of prejudices inherent in the blood of Israelites, 
and consecrated into religious principles by zeal for their own in- 
stitutions, and apprehensive that his readers would not hear or can- 
didly weigh remarks upon a doctrine so contrary to their national 
feelings, and yet so important to his purpose, he suddenly interrupts 
the current of thought for the purpose of inserting some practical 
reproofs and exhortations. Feeling himself opposed by a national 
pride which could not be made to entertain the thought that God 
wholly overlooking the Divine priesthood of Levi, had gone back 
to that of Melchizedek as a more noble pattern for that of Messiah ; 
and seeing his path hedged up by the strongest of human princi- 
ples — religious vanity, he drops his argument for a moment to take 
up a strain of terror by which to compel them to the investigation 
of the subject. " Called of God a high priest after the order of 
Melchizedek, of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be 
uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing." (Verse 11 — on through 
chap. 6.) 

Many will doubtless regard this discussion as about as dry and 
uninteresting as Paul feared it would be offensive and contemptible 
to the Jews. But a want of patient attention to a subject so im- 
portant to the comprehension of the proper relation between the 
Old and New^ Testaments, as well as to the full illustration of Di- 
vine wisdom in the mediatorial work, certainly can only be referred 
to a criminal want of advancement in christian knowledge, and an 
aversion to the calm contemplation of Scriptural truth. People 
have become accustomed to look to the pulpit for something lively, 

'See this further illustrated in Lecture V., page 55. 



LECTURE XI. — CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



125 



moving, and pathetic. The common sentiment when put into lan- 
guage has too much been, ' the man who can drain the greatest 
quantity of tears, and give the greatest stimulus to my feelings 
with the slightest effort of thought on my part, that is the man for 
me.' And I exceedingly regret that this sentiment has been so much 
encouraged by ministerial efforts to meet it. The communication 
and impressment upon the mind of pure Scriptural instruction, and 
not the periodical awakening of a transient and sympathetic "/eeZ- 
in^" by every variety of fancy sketches, is the great business of 
the christian preacher. It may become political demagogues and 
party aspirants, to play upon the baser passions of humanity; but 
never can it be justified in a legate of heaven to pander to tfie sick- 
ly sentimentalism of the multitude. But lest I sliould weary you 
with remarks which many are not now prepared to enter into, I 
will proceed to apply this morning's discussion to some more imme- 
diate and practical purposes. Indulge me however with the cor- 
rection of an error or two into which many have fallen by a mere 
partial examination of the text. 

1st. Verse 4, has been quoted by divines to prove the necessity 
of a heavenly call to the work of the christian ministry. " No 
man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as 
was Aaron." The honor or dignity here spoken of, most undoubt- 
edly refers to the priestly office under the ancient dispensation, and 
not to the clerical under the new. And though it would be con- 
trary to the spirit and letter of the New Testament for an indivi- 
dual to set himself up as a minister of Christ without a proper call; 
yet, this passage no more proves this position true, than it proves 
that every Gospel preacher must be a Jew of the tribe of Levi. 
The object of the apostle is to show that the Levitical priest must 
be called to his office in a certain prescribed way, that being thus 
called he lield a Divine appointment, and that therefore it was 
necessary that Christ" as the high priest of our profession must also 
be called of God. In the succeeding passages he also goes on to 
prove that Christ had such a call. I cannot think there is the re- 
motest reference to the christian ministry. Tlie preacher of the 
Gospel does not occupy the place of the Jewish priest, it is Jesus 
that fills the prophetic office of the new economy. Preaching had 
its origin in the synagogue, and not in the temple ; and there would 
be no more propriety in applying the text to the christian minister. 



126 



LECTURE XI. CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



than there would have been in applying the laws respecting the 
Jewish priests to those doctors who taught the people in the syna- 
gogues. 

2nd. This passage has also been used as an argument for the un- 
interrupted succession of popes and bishops, and as a scriptural 
w^arrant for their exclusive right to ordain to the work of the holy 
ministry. Whatever may be the truth upon this point, it certainly 
cannot be legitimately made out in this text. We have just seen 
that it can have no reference to the ministerial office. But even 
admitting that it has, it is not said that our ordination is illegitimate 
unless administered by popes or diocesan bishops. There is noth 
ing but a direct call from God spoken of; and where such an ap- 
pointment exists there can be no dispute about irregularity of ordi- 
nation. To cite this passage then on the question of papal or epis- 
copal succession, is an ignorant misapplication, or an unjustifiable 
perversion of the sacred scriptures. 

Learn then from what we have said concerning the quahfications 
of a priest, that we cannot come near to God by a direct or inde- 
pendant approach. The simple fact that God has appointed the 
priestly office and ever required between him and his rebellious 
creatures a mediator as indispensable to his favorable regards, is 
proof enough to establish this point. The great reason why we 
cannot approach him in our own name, and by virtue of our ovv:n 
obedience and independent claims, is because we are all alike guilty 
before him. There is not one of the whole race of Adam who 
has not been brought under the curse of the law, or whose most 
rigid morality can merit any thing at Jehovah's hands. Not only 
are men born with a corrupt nature which totally unfits them for 
holy enjoyment, but also laden with a personal guilt which cannot 
otherwise than exclude them from the kind attention of the Deity. 
There is in every heart such a total defection from the principle of 
loyalty to God, and the whole world is so entirely alienated, that 
not one man among all its generations, whose moral delinquencies 
do not separate as an unpassable gulf between him and his righte- 
ous Sovereign. Nor is there anything of which man has the con- 
trol which could purchase the Divine favor. Nothing in all the 
vast world which surrounds him with which he can draw near to 
God. To come to God then without a mediator, to claim favor and 
salvation in our own name, or by virtue of our own moral standing 



LECTURE XI. — CHAPTER V. 1 — 10. 



12T 



is an enterprise whicli must result in utter disappointment. It is, 
in the language of the eloquent Scotch theologian,^ " after we have 
braved the attribute of Jehovah's justice by incurring its condem- 
nation, making an attempt upon the attribute itself by bringing it 
down to the standard of a polluted obedience. It is, after insulting 
the throne of G-od's righteousness, embarking in the still deadlier 
enterprise of demolishing all the stabilities which guard it ; and 
spoiling it of that truth which has pronounced a curse upon the 
children of iniquity — of that unchangeableness which will admit of 
no compromise with sinners that can violate the Godhead or weak- 
en the authority of his government over the universe he has formed. 
It is equivalent to a formally announced sentiment on our part, that 
our performances, sinful as tliey are, and polluted as they are, are 
good enough for heaven !" And yet, blasphemous and presumptu- 
ous as such a course is, there are those who are pursuing it with a 
confidence which can only be attributed to the supreme deceitful- 
ness of the human heart. I refer now to that description of per- 
sons, who seem to think that God is too lenient toward his crea- 
tures, and too entirely merciful and good to deal harshly with them, 
or to withhold his free favor from them. Those who are quieting 
their consciences and fears for a non-compliance with the Gospel 
requisitions, by expectations of acquittal through the exercise of 
some general clemency on Jehovah's part. Many are in effect set- 
ting aside the blessed mediatorship of Christ, by expecting accept- 
ance with the Almighty on virtue of their own morality, and mer- 
cies which liave never been covenanted. But, my hearers, the 
Bible speaks of no clemency but that which is exercised through 
Jesus Christ. Nay, I may say that apart from him God knows no 
mercy. Christ crucified is the only outlet of Divine compassion 
and forgiveness for the guilty. Through him Jehovah has proven 
himself merciful to an extent which has astonished the whole inteli- 
gent universe; but out of him, he is c. consuming fire. And unless 
there be a daysman to lay his hand upon you to shield you from 
Almighty justice, and to lay his hand upon God and stay the fury 
of the avenger, you must be crushed beneath the awful sentence of 
your guilt. You dare not — you cannot come to God by a direct 
and independent approach. There must be a priest — an interces- 

'Dr. Chalmers. 



128 



LECTURE XI. CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



sor — a mediator to whom the work of your reconciliation and sal- 
vation may be intrusted. Otherwise you must be lost. 

But let these thoughts also serve to lead you to the contemplation 
of that gracious provision through which we have access to God. 
Christ Jesus is a priest forever. And through his unchanging 
priesthood the vilest of sinners may draw nigh and receive mercy, 
whilst at the same time every attribute of the Divinity is exalted, 
and the throne of the Majesty on high is still upheld in all its firm- 
ness and glory. Coming into our world — braving its woes — re- 
proving its wickedness — instructing its ignorance — dying for its 
sins — and then bursting away from the grave which could not re- 
tain him to return to the throne of his appointed mediatorship, he 
has become the author of eternal salvation. Nor is there any one so 
well fitted to perform such a work. There is not a feature or 
symptom of our case which he does not fully understand ; not an 
agony arising from our condition which he has not felt; and not an 
emergency in the whole complicated frame-work of our redemption 
which he is not able and ready to meet. With such an High Priest 
to attend to our interests with the eternal God, let us come boldly 
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain the fruits of that great 
salvation, which both delivers us from the power and curse of sin, 
and exalts us to the holy realms of everlasting life. 

But in all this, do not fail to take with you the thought that Christ 
is the high Priest of those only who employ and obey him. He 
does not officiate for the careless and incorrigible sinner. Of all 
the souls whom he represents in heaven, the case of the unyielding 
rebel is not among them. Of all the melting tenderness of his in- 
tercessions, none of it is in behalf of the unfeeling wretch who re- 
fuses obedience to the teachings of his Gospel. In all the earnest 
exhibitions of his mangled body as the ground of salvation for the 
penitent, the negligent have not the least interest The text de- 
clares that he has become the author of eternal salvation 07ily " to 
them that obey him.''^ The many who are now living in entire re- 
gardlessness of religion, may compromise with their consciences by- 
fancies that since Christ is mediator their interests are secure; but 
let me say to you, that Christ mediates for none but those who em- 
ploy and openly acknowledge him. Not in all the Bible can you 
point to a passage which extends the benefits of his mediation to 
the impenitent. There is not one single promise flowing from Di- 



LECTURE XI. — CHAPTER V. 1 10. 



129 



vine mercy to which the unconverted can lay claim. It is true that 
Christ has sent his minister to call sinners to repentance, and sent 
the Holy Spirit to " convince of sin, of righteousness and a judg- 
ment to come yet, instead of securing the Divine blessing upon 
the heedless, these mercies will only add to the intensity of their 
condemnation. Christ might die a thousand times, and a thousand 
times go through the performance of the duties belonging to the 
mediatorial office, but it would not help one iota toward the salva- 
tion of those who will not acknowledge him and believe in him. 
No, no, we must first render obedience to the Savior before he be- 
comes our High Priest, or ever our souls are benefited through his 
ministrations. He is a Savior, and a great Savior ; but only of them 
that believe. And this is a thought which I wish to impress deeply 
upon the minds of those of you who have never as yet submitted 
yourselves to Christ, or brought yourselves to trust in him. Take 
it with you. And whenever you hear the sad account of the Sa- 
vior's sufferings for the salvation of those who believe on his name, 
and of his tearful intercessions before the mercy-seat in behalf of 
those who have intrusted him with the concerns of their souls, re- 
member that whilst ever you remain impenitent you have no inter- 
est whatever in these amazing exhibitions of Divine love. Let this 
thought weigh upon your minds continually — night and day — at 
home and abroad, until you find it in your hearts to submit your- 
selves entirely and unreservedly into the hands of that kind Savior 
who is even now waiting to be gracious, 



LECTURE XII. 



POPULAR IGNORANCE REPROVED. 

Heb. V. 11 — 14. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, see- 
ing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye 
have need that one leach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of 
God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For ev- 
ery one tliat useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness : for he is a babe. 
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason 
of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. 

These words, as was remarked in the last lecture, may be re- 
garded as the opening of a kind of digression from the main point 
which the apostle has under consideration. But though a digres- 
sion, it is one very apposite to the purpose in contemplation. It is 
only a short suspension of the argument, with a view of impressing 
it more pungently upon the minds of his readers, by a few timely 
remarks upon their listlessness and the intimate connection of the 
subject ^vith their eternal welfare. 

There are two opinions which different expositors have advan- 
ced as being taught in the text, which have tended very much to 
embarrass the argument of the apostle, and to forestall its proper 
investigation. The first is, that he has kept back some of the 
" many things" which he had to say of Melchizedek, and that from 
the mere Imits given there can be no satisfaction obtained by pres- 
sing our inquiries respecting him. The second is, that the subject 
itself is of such deep and profound mystery and so exceedingly 
" hard to be uttered" that the feeble Intellect of man is incompetent 
to its comprehension. I think that it will be made appear, that 
there is no reasonable ground for either of these opinions. And 
though Paul does tell us that he had many things to say upon the 
matter, and yet seems to hesitate about giving them expression; 
nevertheless, that he has left none of them untold may be legiti- 
mately inferred from the following considerations. 

1st. The chief design and object of the apostle, or rather of the 
Holy Ghost in him is, to prove to the Jews by scriptural argu- 
ments, that Christ Jesus is a priest — a priest Divinely appointed — 



LECTURE XII. CHAPTER V. 11 14. 



131 



a priest superior to the Aaronic order, and hence the more entitled 
to their hearty acceptation and confidence. We saw in the last 
lecture whereon he founded the arguments of Christ's Divine voca- 
tion, and of his natural qualifications for the holy office ; he thesi 
comes to by far the most important point of the argument, viz. the 
order and character of the Messiah's priesthood. To fail here, 
w^ould be to fail in the whole conclusion ; and to withhold anything 
which could throw the least light upon the matter, would be the 
part of an unskilful or dishonest disputant, neither of which can be 
affirmed of Paul. 

2nd. It may also be reasonably inferred, that nothing respecting 
the Priesthood of Melchizedek has been withheld, from the very 
minute and circumstantial discussion which is subsequently given 
it. Everything conceivable of the ancient patriarch relevant to the 
point we have in chapter seven. If any important matters have 
been omitted, we have a right to demand the evidence of such omis- 
sions. But where are there any vacancies discernable in the ac- 
count.^ His name, city, royalty, priesthood, blessing of Abraham, 
reception of tithes from the father of the Hebrews, separation from 
and superiority over the Levitical priests, and typical relation to 
Christ in all these respects are the most minutely discussed. 

3d. Besides this, the whole scope of the passage very plainly in- 
dicates the purpose on the part of the apostle to give to his readers 
aZZ that he had to say relative to the subject. After the utterance 
of the reproof of their dullness of hearing ^ he expressly declares his 
purpose to leave the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and 
go on unto perfection ; i. e. to the investigation of these high and 
difficult branches of christian knowledge. Or, as the whole may 
be paraphrased, " omitting now to insist on the first elements of 
christian doctrine, let us proceed to the consideration of the more 
difficult principles of religion, not discussing at present the doctrines 
of repentance, faith, baptisms, &c., and this we will do if God per- 
mit." Plere we have the pointed avowal of the apostle to proceed 
to the discussion of this very subject which they were so much in- 
disposed to hear, and which involved so much difficulty for them to 
receive. And on the probability that many would refuse to go with 
him in tbis matter, and that others would abandon all further atten- 
tion to a religion which as they thought so blasphemously depreci- 
ated the holy pi iesthood of Aaron, he tells them further that " it is 



IS2 



LECTURE XII, — CHAPTER V. 11 — 14. 



impossible for those once enlightened" and having made certain ad- 
vances in the christian course, " if they apostatize to renew them 
again unto repentance," or save them from utter ruin. Thus liter- 
ally compelling them at the peril of their souls, to give attention to 
the weighty considerations which he was about to advance concern- 
ing the priesthood of Melchizedek. Such then are the considera- 
tions which lead me totally to dissent from the opinion that Paul 
kept hack any part of what he had to communicate on this subject. 

And that there is nothing in it which is beyond human capacity 
to understand, I think is equally clear. It is true that the apostle 
did find difficulty, and no little of it, in enabling his Jewish readers 
to understand and properly regard this matter. But on what ac- 
count ? Not surely because there is any thing peculiarly mysteri- 
ous or incomprehensible in the subject itself; but as he says, be- 
cause they were dull of hearing. He does not here as in another 
place talk of " unspeakable words which it is impossible for a man 
to utter," — he does not once hint at the incompetency of the hu- 
man intellect, nor at a general or irremediable weakness. The in- 
firmity of which he speaks is one peculiar to the christianized Jews 
at that particular time, and one w^iich he does not fail to reproach. 
"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, 
seeing ye are dull of hearings for when for the time ye ought to be 
teachers, ye have need that one teach you again ichich he the first 
principles of the oracles of God ; and are become such as have need 
of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is 
unskilful in the iDord of righteousness ; for he is a habe. But strong 
meat belongeth to them that are of full age, who by reason of use 
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Here 
is language which plainly teaches that to those Jewish babes — un- 
skilled in the word — needing to be taught even the first rudiments 
— and capable of feeding only on milk, the subject is indeed a diffi- 
cult one. But it also carries with it the strong intimation, that to 
men of full age, who by reason of use have their senses exercis- 
ed to discern good and evil, and are capable of feeding on strong 
meaty the whole matter is simple and plain enough. And that 
such is the fact will be more satisfactorily shown when we come to 
the more immediate discussion of the subject itself. 

You have already observed, my hearers, that the specific nature 
of the difficulty of Paul in the instance of the text, was meagerness 



LECTURE XII. CHAPEER V. 11 — 14. 



123 



of religious knowledge. The impediment in the way of his even 
progress with the argument, and which led him to apprehend a fail- 
ure in his efforts, was a want of that improvement and cultivation 
in sacred wisdom to which it was the privilege of his readers to 
have advanced. They were but babes when they should have been 
of full age — they could only receive and digest 7nilk when they 
should have been able to feed on strong meat — they were unskilful 
in the word of righteousness and had need to be themselves in- 
structed in the first rudiments of religion, when for the time they 
should have been able to discern good and evil and to be teachers 
in Christ. The same I think may be affirmed of the great body of 
christian professors in the present day. I may say, that the major 
portion of those who claim membership in the church of Christ, 
and have considered themselves christians for years, are as yet but 
babes, who have need of milk, and are not yet established in the 
first principles of the oracles of God. And that such is the fact may 
be seen in various particulars. 

The blind zeal of many professors of religion, shows a state of 
distressing ignorance in the churches. As if names gave existence 
and character to things, how many are there, wiio are by far more 
concerned for the interests of a party or the success of a sect, than 
for their own personal holiness and the salvation of souls. How 
many who are more bent upon binding down the consciences of 
their fellows to certain dogmas and standards of piety, than to ad- 
vance their spirits toward the lofty seats of glory. How many who 
are run completely mad upon certain tenets of faith and systems of 
speculative theology, whilst they continually outrage the more in- 
dispensable practical precepts of the word of God. How many 
who burn with an apostolic ardor and compass sea and land to make 
proselytes, though it be by the defamation of their brethren and at 
the expense of charity and truth. How many enthusiastic modern 
reformers have we, who are so struck with the magnitude of cer- 
tain evils, and so filled with the grand purpose of their correction, 
as greatly to underrate the power of the Gospel, as w^ell as to run 
into all the extremes of intemperance and fanaticism. What do 
these things argue, but ignorance of the nature of religion, and of 
that heavenly charity without which no soul can be saved. 

Nor can any one accustomed to move among professing chris- 
tians fail to be struck with the ignorance of the great mass respect- 



134 



LECTURE XII. — CHAPTER V. 11 — 14. 



ing the scriptures and the doctrines therein taught. Though 
they theoretically adopt the old and new Testaments as their only 
and infallible rule of faith and practice, yet there are multitudes in 
the church who know so little ahout these heavenly documents, as 
to be unable to find a text though you tell them the chapter, verse 
and book. Others there are who are so entirely regardless and in- 
consistent as not even to have Bibles in their houses. Some' who 
have them, value them so little as never to look into them hut when 
they wish to see their ages, or to record the birth, death or mar- 
riage of a child. Some read them, but only for the purpose of seek- 
ing out difficulties, or to find passages which they -think go on to 
establish some foolish notions which they have taken up. Eiiough 
there are who study the signs in their almanacs with a great deal 
more care and diligence than the high and holy messages of Divine 
truth. Many who understand the doctrines and opinions of every 
political party and the arguments by which every measure of state 
policy is supported far better than the first principles of the word 
of God. And if I were to ask each individual of this assembly per- 
sonally what the gospel is, I fear that I should find few who would 
be able to give me a correct reply, much less give me a satisfacto- 
ry account of its prominent features and practical requirements. — 
And when we consider that it is in the Scriptures we have eternal 
life, and that it is there that the way to heaven is revealed and all 
true piety kindled and kept alive, we are constrained to look up- 
on this state of things as exhibiting the most distressing igno- 
rance. ~ ^ 
The same may also be seen in the many superstitious notions in 
vogue in the church, which are entirely contrary to the spirit and 
letter of the Scriptures. Into the particulars of this matter it would 
be neither prudent nor necessary for me here to enter. But such 
is the fact, that in too many places, the heathen opinions respecting 
dreams, omens, ghosts, witches, apparitions, &c., &c., have receiv- 
ed a credence from professing christians, which betrays a lamenta- 
ble ignorance, not only of philosophy, hut even of the nature of Di- 
vine Providence. And there are many other particulars which we 
might specify, which too plainly evince a want of cultivation and 
improvement in sacred knowledge, not much dissimilar to that with 
which Paul reproached the Jews. Nor can we look upon this state of 
things in any other light than that in which the apostle regarded such 



LECTURE XII.— CHAPTER V. 11 14. 



135 



ignorance in his day. And though there may he mitigating circum- 
stances in certain cases, we must nevertheless pronounce ignorance 
of the doctrines of the Bible in christians, reproac/i/wZ and criminal. 
This will the more plainly appear, if we consider firsts the nature 
of religion. 

The foundation of all true piety is knowledge. Solomon invaria- 
bly calls it wisdom. And whatever definition we give or in what- 
ever terms we express our idea of the matter of man's piety toward 
his Maker, it will eventually resolve itself into knowledge. You 
may define religion to be supreme love to God. The Savior says 
that this is the sum of the law and the prophets. But how can man 
love an object without knowing something of its existence and char- 
acter. Love is that emotion of the soul excited by the perception 
and contemplation of an object which presents itself to our judg- 
ment as amiable and worthy. Hence there must be knowledge as 
the very basis of love. You may define religion to be the sincere 
and faithful service of God. But who can serve God acceptably 
and intelligently without an acquaintance with his character and his 
will.^ Solomon says, the fear of God and obedience to his com- 
mandments is the whole duty of man. But how can we fear and 
obey a being of whom we have no knowledge } So that you per- 
ceive the fundamental element of religion to be knowledge. Not 
that cold and passive assent of the mind to certain propositions ; but 
knowledge in its highest sense and highest objects, even that ac- 
quaintance with the being, attributes and wishes of the Deity which 
furnishes motive for honest and intelligent action. And all religion 
which is not based upon such knowledge, is no better than the blind 
rites of paganism and superstition. Ignorance of sacred things is 
entirely incompatible with scriptural piety. The great business of 
Christ's embassadors on earth is to teach. And the church itself is 
but one universal seminary, where immortal souls are educated in 
the theory and practice of tliose eternal principles of justice and 
right taught originally by the Savior. No man can become a chris- 
tian without being first instructed. He must first have a knowledge 
of the character and government of God, of his relation to that gov- 
ernment and his consequent obligations to obey the Deity, before 
he can feel himself a sinner. Then he must know something about 
Christ, the nature of his atonement, and his willingness and ability 
to save sinners, before he can properly venture on him for salva- 



136 



LECTURE XII. — CHAPTER V. 11 — 14. 



tion. Then again he must have a correct conception of the condi- 
tions upon which Christ saves those who desire deliverance from 
sin at his hands, before he will be able to decide the question in his 
own case whether or not he is a child of God. And although there 
are those in the church who know but very little about these things, 
and yet are accounted good members ; I must insist upon it, that no 
man can be a christian in the scriptural sense of the term without 
knowledge of these fundamental points. And that God in his mer- 
cy will overlook such ignorance, I am not authorized to say ; fol- 
lowing the example of Paul I cannot pass it without reproacfi. 

And if knowledge be necessary to the existence of christian char- 
acter, how much more indispensable to the perfect development of 
that character? Men may talk about christian perfection as they 
please, but God has linked together in eternal union sanctification 
and knowledge. And growth in grace always implies also growth 
" in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." When 
Jesus prayed for the sanctification of his people, he prayed that 
they might be sanctified "through the truth;" nor can the truth 
sanctify unless it be known. I do then most positively insist, that 
information and thorough scripture knowledge is utterly indispensa- 
ble to a scriptural christian. Ignorance is of the devil, it is not of 
God, nor is it compatible with the spirit of his word. It is evil 
and ruinous in all its tendencies. And in those professing Christi- 
anity and having the means of improvement, it is reproachful and 
criminal. 

You may feel here like asking me, how much knowledge it re- 
quires to make a christian ? and why it is that many of our most in- 
telligent people are not disciples of the Savior ? To the first inqui- 
ry I may answer, — not a great deal if it be of the right kind ; but 
in every case so much as will enable him to have a clear view of 
his obligations, his duties, his sinful condition, and the plan of sal- 
vation through Christ. To the other I may answer, — a man may 
be learned, he may travel all the rounds of science and literature, 
and yet not be educated in the things of God. There is a specific 
kind of schooling required to make an intelligent christian. Hence 
the most learned in the things of this world may yet be fools and 
babes as regards the facts of that higher philosophy of the Bible. 
There is also such a thing as being acquainted with religious sub- 
jects after the manner of a cold speculatism, without suffering those 



LiECTURE XlT. — CHAPTER V. 11 — 14. 



137 



truths to have their legitimate bearing upon the heart and conduct. 
But all this does not alter the position that knowledge of these things 
is essential to pure christian character, and that ignorance of them 
is censurable. We are enjoined by Peter to be ready always to 
give an answer to every man thatasketh iis a reason of the hope 
that is in us but how are we to comply with this precept with- 
out knowing what Christianity is, and upon what considerations we 
found our hope ? Paul exhorts us to " earnestly contend for the 
faith which was once delivered to the saints." But Vv^hat success 
could we expect in carrying out the spirit of this direction, unless 
we had well acquainted ourselves with the nature of those articles 
of belief, and by what authority they are sustained. Nay, to bean 
efficient christian, there must be knowledge. 

Negligence as to improvement in this particular will also appear 
reproachful, if we consider the nature of future happiness. Many 
curious notions have been and are yet held respecting the nature of 
the joys which await christians in eternity. It appears to me how- 
ever very plain from the constitution of man and the general tenor 
of revelation, that the chief basis of future happiness will be know- 
ledge. Moral purity and freedom from pain will of course be sub- 
jects of joy, but these are rather to be looked upon as means or 
qualifications for enjoyment than as elements entering into the na- 
ture of happiness. Sin and misery are now the great shackles which 
bind us down and hinder our spirits from entering the fields of true 
pleasure, but when these are stricken off the free and intelligent 
soul will roam the wide creation of God, search out the history of 
the eternity that is past, and drink in — feed on — and praise the 
wisdom, goodness and power and glory of Jehovah through all the 
eternity that is yet to come. The christian's grief is now, that he 
only sees " through a glass darkly but his transporting hope is, 
that then, he " will know even as he is known." The farther then 
he advances in sacred wisdom in this life, the more he shall enjoy 
of heaven on earth. And if he fails to advance to the highest pos- 
sible stage, it is to be laid down to his shame. 

I conclude then from what has been said upon this point, that it 
is the duty of all christians to endeavor to cultivate their minds, and 
to improve themselves in the theory and practice of the principles 
of Divine philosophy. All that I have yet to say, relates to the 
practical question, how this is to be done ? 
10 



138 



LECTURE XII. CHAPTER V. 11—14. 



And here I may remark, what is evident to all, that there must 
be more careful, systematic persoiial investigation of the Holy 
Scriptures. There are many people in the church who depend en- 
tirely for their knowledge of the Bible upon what ministers say, 
and what they may catch from the conversation of friends. There 
are some to whom w^e might quote Shakespeare and tell them it was 
the language of inspiration, and they would believe it, and probably 
repeat it in support of some particular opinion of their own as the 
most unquestionable authority. Many a blunder of this kind has 
come under my own observation. The great reason of it is, that 
such people never read their Bibles; and if they have read in the 
holy Book, they have never read all that is in it. Now there is no 
tolerable excuse for a christian not being acquainted w^ith all that is 
in the word of God. I know that people try to frame excuses. One 
says, he has such a bad memory that it is impossible for him to re- 
tain what he does read. But is not that a reason why it should be 
read more frequently ? If you are prone to forget, you ought the 
oftener to refresh your memory. Another says, that the Bible is a 
large book, and that it requires the patience of a Job and the energy 
of a Hercules to go through it. It is admitted that the Bible is a 
considerable volume; but what is such a book, or hundreds of such 
books to men who live in this world twenty, thirty, forty and fifty 
years. 1 contend that one year is enough for a common laboring 
man to read all that is in it. It contains but 1189 chapters, and 
some of them consisting of no more than two and three verses. And 
if you read two pages every week and five pages every sabbath — 
or fifty-four verses every week and twice that number every sab- 
bath — or three chapters every day and five on every sabbath, you 
will get to the close of Revelations before the year is out. Certain- 
ly this is no difficult task. It only requires at the outside an aver- 
age oi ten minutes ordinary reading each day of the year. 

But it is not sufficient merely to read the Bible, it must also be 
studied. And for this every christian family should be furnished 
with at least a few well selected books and commentaries.^ But 

'Here I will take occasion to recommend tlie Publications of the American Tract 
Society, both for cheapness and valuable matter. As to commentaries — among wri- 
ters of our own church, " The Popular Exposition by Morris and Smith," though 
it extends as yet (1846) only over the G ospels, possesses many excellencies. ' ' Barnes' 
Notes" on most c^the books of the new Testament, are also admirably adapted to the 
use of the common reader. To which I would add " The Comprehensive Commen- 
tary'' upon the whole Bible, as a work for the student and for family use. The com- 
mentaries of Scott and Henry are so universally appreciated, as to need no com- 
mendation from me. 



LECTURE XII. CHAPTER V. 11 — 14. 



139 



you may say, you lack the means to procure books. Then save a 
few of those dollars which you spend for little delicacies, and at 
senseless exfiibitions, and you will have enough and to spare. And 
permit me to say to you, parents, that a well chosen little library 
will profit your sons a great deal more than your dollars or your 
farms. Nor dare to tell me that you have wo time to read. If you 
were to take but a few of those evening hours which you now while 
away in the stores, work-shops and bar-rooms, &c., in conversation 
about every body's business and every imaginable nonsense, and de- 
vote them to books ; I can assure you it will be better for your 
heads and your hearts. Tell me not you have no time to read, 
whilst vvhat I daily see passes before my eyes. Time there is, and 
time enough, if you will only appropriate it to the proper use. 

A good religious family newspaper, is also highly valuable in en- 
larging christian views of doctrine, benevolence, and general intel- 
ligence. No family should be without one. 

The Bible-class must also be sustained. It is here where we en- 
ter into a social discussion of the teachings of select portions of the 
word of God. And as a proof of the efficiency of such classes, you 
will always find, that those who most regularly attend them, and 
take most interest in them, are always the most intelligent and con- 
sistent christians. 

The Sabbath School must be kept up and diligently attended to. 
It is here that the truths of revelation are brought down to the com- 
prehension of children, and that the young are taught the way to 
heaven. Nor can any one doubt the excellence of this institution, 
who has observed the man who was brought up in the well-regula- 
ted Sunday school. 

Such, my hearers, are the principal means of improvement in Di- 
vine wisdom, and of advancement " in the knowledge of our Lord 
and Savior Jesus Christ." And in conclusion I would affectionate- 
ly and sincerely urge upon every one here present professing Chris- 
tianity, and all others desiring the salvation of their souls, to give 
them your diligent attention. Read your Bibles, study your Bibles, 
using every help which you can call into requisition. So will you 
be prepared for the highest offices of usefulness here ; and when 
you reach the world to come, you will be prepared to enter upon 
the investigation of those sublime fields of wisdom and of thought 
which spread themselves to the view of the redeemed. 



LECTURE XII r. 



THE FUNDAMENTAL^ DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY. 

Heb. vi. 1, 2, 3. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let u& 
go on unto perfection ; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead 
works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of 
hap«ds, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we 
will do if God permit. 

When we look at the doctrines of the Bible in their connection 
with the great scheme of the Gospel, we find such a niutual rela- 
tion and dependence between them, that all seem to be equally im- 
portant and indispensable. There are some however^ which^ from 
their nature, and the places they occupy in the hi&tory of redemp- 
tion, require to be more thoroughly understood and^ more confident- 
ly received than others. In religion as in all science, there are pri- 
mary rudiments, which serve as the foundation upon which the su- 
perstructure is to be reared. These first elements are all essential 
in every instance to the formation of christian character. As flesh, 
bones and blood enter essentially into the composition of our bodies^, 
so these first principles enter into the constitution of all valid piety. 
These fundamentals we have enumerated in the text, and to a brief 
discussion of them shall our whole attention be directed this morn- 
ing. The following is a paraphrase of the passage before us : — 
' Omitting now to insist on the first elements of christian doctrine^ 
let us proceed to the consideration of the more difficult principles 
of religion, not discussing at present the doctrines of repentance, 
faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and 
eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permit.' 

I. The first essential element of Christianity is — Repentance. 
This is the first step in christian life. It is a doctrine which claims 
your particular attention. 

Probably the most effectual way of removing false conceptions 
of this matter will be, to show what it is not. 1st. It evidently 
does not consist in a mere confession of sins. This is one part of 
Repentance, but not all of it. A man may condemn himself in the 
most debasing language, and sit down in sackcloth and ashes, and 



LECTURE XIII. CHAPTER VI. 1,2, 3. 



141 



all without avail. The Pharisees confessed sins after the manner 
of their formalism daily, but very few of them repented. 2nd. 
Nor is sorrow and weeping on account of the privations and dis- 
tress brought upon us by our sins, to be regarded as genuine repent- 
ance. We may be sorry for a course of conduct because it brought 
us into serious difficulties, and not hate that course of conduct itself. 
Esau weep bitterly because he had lost his birth-right, but evinced 
no sorrow for having eaten the pottage. 3d. Nor are the occa- 
sional meltings of natural affection, marks of true penitence. Some 
are constitutionally more soft and yielding than others, A sermon 
may dissolve them into tears — the tale of the Savior's mournful his- 
tory may melt them to tenderness, without approaching the borders 
of Repentance. Orphah wept, and filled Naomi's ears with lamen- 
tation, but while the tears were yet on her cheeks returned to the 
idolatry of the Moabites. 4th. Nor is deep conviction and remorse 
for sin repentance, Felix trembled under the pungency of his con- 
viction, but turned away his apostolic instructor. Judas was over- 
whelmed with remorse for his guilt in betraying Christ, and hanged 
himself for relief from its goadings, but it is said he v/as a devil, 
and went to his own place ! 5th. Nor is a glad hearing of the 
Gospel, and compliance with its outward requisitions, evidence of 
repentance. Herod heard John gladly, and did many things which 
he taught, but afterward beheaded him for the gratification of a 
damsel who danced at his birth-day ! True Repentance embraces 
conviction of sin — contrition for sin — confession of sin — and aban- 
donment oj sin. Different individuals may experience these states 
of mind, and these dispositions of heart in different degrees accord- 
ing to their various constitutional temperaments, previous histories, 
and intellectual cultivation; but in every instance they are indispens- 
able qualities of a genuine penitent. 

" When convicted of sin, the individual clearly sees and deeply 
feels his natural depravity and practical wickedness : tiis consci- 
ence, awake to guilt and exquisitely sensitive, becomes painfully 
oppressive; and his spirits droop under the dread of final condem- 
nation and endless punishment. This conviction is wrought by the 
agency of the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of Scrip- 
tural truth. That it is not a natural and original operation of the 
mind itself, is evident from the indisputable fact, that the uniform 
tendency of sin is to darken the mind — harden the heart — and sear 



142 



LECTURE XIII. CHAPTER VI. 15 2,3. 



the conscience. The longer therefore, that the sinner persists in 
transgression, the more his moral blindness and insensibility will 
increase. But the state of conviction, of which I am speaking, im- 
plies light, and tenderness, and quickness of conscience ; and hence,, 
no man need doubt that these circumstances are sufficient indica- 
tions of the presence and action of the Divine Spirit. The part of 
man in this, as well as in every subsequent stage of this saving pro- 
cess, is to receive the truth in the love of the truth, and so submit 
to the operations of the Hand by which the instrument is directed. 

Then follows contrition for sin. The contrite sinner conteniplates 
the immaculate holiness of God, and laments his own pollution; he 
remembers the goodness of God, and mourns his own ingratitude 
he considers the power of God, and tremblingly deplores his own 
folly and madness. He sadly reflects upon the degradation he has 
suffered through the influence of sin. He perceives that not only 
his moral principles, but his intellectual faculties and physical ener- 
gies have all been greatly injured; that his time, and talents, and 
property, have been shamefully abused and prostituted and wasted ; 
and that his example has not only been useless, but extensively and 
sorely pernicious, exerting its most deleterious influence in the cir- 
cle of his nearest and dearest friends, and diffusing a feebler but 
still pestilential contagion over the whole sphere of his acquaint- 
ance. 

Thus he is prepared for the confession of sin. He freely ac- 
knowledges before God and man, the guilt of sin, and its ruinous 
tendencies. In private places especially, humbling himself in the 
presence of the Omnicient searcher of hearts, he fully admits the 
justice of the charge alledged against him as an inexcusable viola- 
tor of the Divine law, and, shrinking from his exposure to wrath, 
immediately and fervently pleads for mercy. He has no mental 
reservation — prefers no extenuation or apology — makes no mention 
of presumed personal merit — but calmly unbosoms his profound 
pursuasion that he is utterly sinful in condition and conduct — in 
heart and in life. Neither is he careful to suppress or conceal the 
appropriate accompaniments of confession. If his breast heave 
with anguish, and his eyes overflow with tears, and his lips quiver, 
and his voice falters, with the struggle of a prayerful spirit, he will 
not outrage the better developments of his improving nature by as- 
suming the rocky sternness of a cold constraint; for if there be any 



LECTURE XIII. — CHAPTER VI. l,-2, 3. 



143 



condition on earth that demands more than all others the unehecked 
tokens of severest affliction, it is the one before us — the condition 
of the convicted — contrite — confessing offender against the God of 
the universe. 

Now tlien, confessing himself a sinner, he is prompted and dis- 
posed to abandon sin. Here is the perfection of repentance. Many- 
persons unnecessarily trouble themselves with doubts of the suffici- 
ency of their repentance. In all these cases, the simple question — 
has ray penitence induced me to forsake sin.? may be regarded as 
an easy and adequate test. But this act of renunciation is indispens- 
able. No circumstances can justify him by whom it is neglected 
The true penitent, when assured that any habit or custom is really 
sinful, feels himself bound by the moral necessity for its abandon- 
ment, whatever circumstances may interpose obstructions. Noth- 
ing can be more plain and imperative than the injunction — " Cease 
to do evil;" or its associate precept — "learn to do well." He 
therefore solemnly and forever renounces all sins of thought — of 
passion — of language — and of deportment; and in so doing he 
achieves one of the noblest and most important purposes possible 
to our race." ^ 

Such then is the doctrine of Repentance. The appended 
clause — '■'-from dead works'''' may refer to the efforts of sinners for 
self-recovery. Whether it be by lifeless forms — heartless moral- 
ity — or open transgression and contempt of all piety, every impeni- 
tent individual has fancied peace and happiness as the ultimate re- 
sult of his endeavors. The entire tendency of such works is to 
death; and hence are to be numbered with his sins, and constitute 
the principal subject of his repentance — therefore denominated 
" repentance from dead works." . 

II. Another fundamental doctrine of Christianity is — Faith to- 
ward God.'''' That is, faith in the existence of God, the Trinity of 
the Godhead, the natural and moral perfections of God, the univer- 
sal sovereignty of God, and the efficiency of his plan of saving sin- 
ners. To attempt to show that such a faith is essential to salvation 
is entirely superfluous. How can a man be saved who has no con- 
fidence in the existence and providence of the God that made him ! 
" He that believeth not shall be damned." As to the nature of faith, 
I have already had occasion to make some remarks ; and it will 

'See a sermon by Rev. T. H. Stockton, " Christian World,'''' vol. III. 



144 



LECTURE XIII. — CHAPTER VI. 1, 2, 3. 



Still be necessary for me to make a few more in the sequel. Hence 
the brevity with which this point is here disposed of. 

III. The third elementary doctrine of the christian religion re- 
lates to Baptisms. There are two baptisms spoken of in the New 
Testament as necessary to salvation. The Savior says in the iii. 
chap. John — " except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he 
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.*" In his last instructions to 
his apostles he said — " He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved." These baptisms are — the baptism of the Spirit, and the 
baptism of icater. The kingdom of Christ combines a moral and 
a physical existence — an internal and an external organization. The 
internal or moral kingdom has an economy of its own, adapted to 
its own ends. The external or physical, has also a distinct arrange- 
ment, embodying to the senses what exists only in the regions of 
consciousness. The moral initiation into this kingdom is the bap- 
tism of the Spirit ; and the outward initiation is the baptism by 
water. The inward baptism is that gracious work of the Holy 
Ghost upon the heart, through which our darkened understandings 
are illuminated — our seared and deadened consciences awakened 
and tuned to a lively moral sense — our selfish wills subdued and 
brought into obedience to the Divine commandments — our corrupt 
affections, love — fear — joy — hope, &c., — purified and set upon their 
proper objects — in a word, the regeneration of our fallen natures. 
Mysterious baptism ! but blessed they that partake of it. As the 
winds blow wliere they list, and we hear their sound but cannot 
tell whence they come or whither they go; " So is every one that 
is born of the Spirit." 

Water baptisoi is that external sacramental sign and seal of the 
covenant of grace, by which we are initiated into the visible church. 
Its validity depends upon the outward application of water, of any 
quantity, or quality, in the name of the Father — Son — and Holy 
Ghost by an authorized minister of ihe Gospel. This baptism is 
intended as an outvrard type and recognition of the spiritual baptism 
of the heart. Both under ordinary circumstances are essential to 
christian character. He who has been baptized by the Holy Ghost 
has most certainly learned obedience to the Divine commandments. 
Now we all know that water baptism is a command of God. We 
cannot therefore believe that any man has become an obedient ser- 
vant of Christ who refuses to be baptized. In this view of the 



LECTURE XIII.— CHAPTER YI. 1, 2, 3. 



145 



matter then we find the two so intimately linked together, that both 
are indispensable. Paul in the text numbers them among' the fun- 
damental elements of our religion ; nor do the scriptures authorize 
me to recognize any man as a true christian who has not been 

born of water and of the Spirit." The fact is that we have learn- 
ed to spiritualize our views of the church, and of things belonging 
to the church entirely too much. We have been accustomed to re- 
fer every thing essential to an inward work and a subtle spiritual- 
ism, until Christianity has been well neigh thrown out of its channel. 
The church has a visible and an invisible existence ; but they are 
so closely united that one is indispensable to the other. There can 
be no church without ordinances, which the Bible represents as en- 
tering into its very life. Nor will ordinances benefit us without the 
invisible administrations of the Spirit. Like a tree, the roots must 
lie concealed, and draw nourishment from spiritual regions ; but to 
be perfect and to bear fruit the trunk must spring up into the light, 
and its branches become tano-ible to our senses. But this is not the 
place to follow out this train of thought. 

lY. Another fundamental doctrine of Christianity is — " The lay- 
i/ig on of handsP Imposition of hands was extensively practiced 
by the Jews. It was done in the impartation of particular bless- 
ings — in prayer for another — in the confession of sins over the vic- 
tim for sacrifice — in the consecration to office, &c. The Savior 
laid his hands on children when he blessed them, and upon the sick 
when he healed them. The apostles practiced imposition of hands 
in healing the sick — in ordaining to the work of the ministry — and 
in imparting the influences of the Holy Ghost on the reception of 
new converts. As to the particular rite her intended, there seems 
to me a great deal of difficulty in determining. Commentators to 
whom I have had access, have all without exception avoided ex- 
pressing any opinion of what the apostle means. There are two 
things to which it may refer—the ordination of ministers, and the 
confirmation of converts in their new profession ; both these solem- 
nities were performed by the laying on of hands, and both are very 
appropriate and important ordinances in the existence of organized 
Christianity. Neither, it is true, can be supported by an express 
precept ; but both have the authority of apostolic practice, and of 
the great body of the christian church to the present day. 



146 



LECTURE XIII. — CHAPTER VI. 1, 2, 3. 



Ordination to the clerical office, is that rite by which the call of 
an individual to preach the Gospel is officially recognized. Its 
validity as we conceive, depends not upon the imposition of the 
hands of a papal or diocesan bishop, but entirely upon the physical, 
mental, and moral qualifications of the individual who is the subject 
of ordination. And though we do not claim for this rite the com- 
munication of any special grace, or the transmission of any authority 
not previously possessed by the candidate more than a public re- 
cognition of his Divine call, and the moral influences of the cere- 
mony itself; yet, it will be conceded by all Christendom, that some 
such govermental regulation is absolutely essential to the preserva- 
tion of the church from error, ignorance, and imposition. 

Confirmation is that ordinance or rite transmitted to us from the 
fathers, by the reception of which youth baptized in infancy, and 
converts from heathenism received on probation, are received into 
full and confirmed membership in the visible church. All denomi- 
nations have discovered the indispensable necessity of some regu- 
lations for such cases ; and all, whether practicing or rejecting this 
particular rite, have adopted some mode by which the membership 
of baptized children is confirmed. The most appropriate mode, 
we believe to be that practiced at least on some occasions by the 
apostles, and by the great body of the church since then, viz. by 
" the laying on of hands." I know that objections have been 
brought against this solemnity, but their force for the most part 
bears upon its abuses and not against its proper use. The Rev. Al- 
bert Barnes, in his Notes on the passage under consideration, rests 
his main opposition to it upon the fact of its liability to be abused. 
But why not then also reject the rite of ordination to the ministry 
because its observance led to the unrighteousness, of papal domina- 
tion and high church extravagance ? Both ceremonies rest upon 
the same authority, nor has the " laying on of hands" in confirma- 
tion been more abused than the "laying on of the hands of the 
presbytery." And looking at the solemn influences exerted by this 
rite both upon the surrounding congregation and the individuals 
themselves, I am constrained to look upon it as by far the most ap- 
propriate way of performing what all admit to be an action of es- 
sential importance in preserving the visible organization of the 
church of Christ. So much then for the doctrine of "the laying 
on of hands." 



LECTURE XIII. — CHAPTER VI. 1, 2, 3. 



147 



V. Another elementary doctrine mentioned in the text is — the 
^^Resurrection of the dead?'' Upon this Christianity mainly depends 
for its significance. It lies at the foundation of all our hopes. The 
Scriptures speak of a first and second resurrection. But as the two 
are only distinguished as regards the time of their accomplishment, 
we may comprehend them both under the same view. 

That tliere will be a resurrection of all^ including the righteous 
and the wicked, the Scriptures the most clearly teach. The Savior 
himself has pointedly declared, that " the time is coming in the which 
all that are in their graves shall hear his vo|ce, and shall come 
forth— they that have done good to the resurrection of life; and 
they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." The 
Scriptures also teach us that, though precisely the same particles 
of the dead body be not raised, there is to be an identity of the 
risen body with the one that was deposited in the grave. Death is 
to bring about an important change to subserve the important ends 
of our future existence ; yet in the great and mysterious transition, 
it is still true, that '■'■this corruptible must put on incorruption, and 
this mortal put on immortality^" The same man who dies shall live 
again. 

And in what an imposing manner do the Scriptures present this 
subject. What awful interest and what joyful hopes mingle in the 
thought of the resurrection ! How awful to contemplate the an- 
gelic mission to sound the trump of God as the general signal for 
the sleeping millions to awake ; and to follow its alarming clangor 
from continent to continent and from zone to zone, everywhere 
dropping its dread peals upon the startled ear of death, and every- 
where causing the graves and charnel-houses to rattle with the 
stirring dead ! The widespread ocean, convulsed to its deepest 
caverns at that sound shall cast forth the millions who sleep be- 
neath its crested waves. Vaults and sepulchres shall burst, and 
every massive tower and marble pillar which the hand of friend- 
ship reared to the memory of the departed, down even to the rude- 
ly sculptured sandstone which marks the humblest peasant's grave, 
shall fall, and uncounted multitudes shall rise up shaking their death- 
clothes from their freshning limbs to sleep and die no more. Egypt- 
ian pyramids, painted catacombs, and patriarchal dormitories shall 
swarm with the re-animated legions of their nameless dead. Cities 
long forgotten shall be convulsed through all their desolate ruins by 



148 LECTURE XIII. CHAPTER VI. 1 , 2, 3. 

the life-thrill of their dishonored hosts. The whole earth shall be 
ploughed by the opening of graves to set their tenants free ! 

And though the learned sages of Athens pronounce it childish 
" babbling," Saddusees — Stoics — Epicureans hold it as a lie, and 
others regard it with contenfipt and stigmatize it as " the hope of 
worms yet, what is all our religion without the doctrine of the 
resurrection and a future life ! The great province and intent of 
Christianity, is to school and discipline us for a future existence. 
But where is its significancy if there be no resurrection? For "if 
there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen ; and 
if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith 
also is vain," Yea, we are yet in our sins and in our blood, and 
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished ! But why 
should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the 
dead } Cannot that Omnipotence which first fashioned us from the 
dust of the earth again build up the decayed tenement out of its 
constituent materials.'' Surely he can. The Scriptures declare 
that he can. The resurrection of Christ has demonstrated that he 
can. And that he will is the immutable decree of his council. — 
" For we know that our Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand 
at the latter day upon the earth, and though worms destroy these 
bodies, yet iyi oiirjlesh we shall see God?'' 

VI. To the resurrection of the dead is to succeed the " eternal 
judgment?'' This is another fundamental doctrine of Christianity. 
Judgment here refers to the administration of rewards and punish- 
ments. It is called eternal to designate the final and unchangeable 
character of those administrations. The necessity of such a final 
adjudication of human affairs may be very clearly shown. 

The very nature and circumstances of the case require it. We 
are all rational and moral beings, and as such placed under a moral 
government. But how unequal is the present dispensation of things 
in relation to the merits and demerits of mankind } How often is 
virtue left unrewarded, and vice unpunished How often are the 
guilty promoted, and the innocent made to suffer.^ And if there is 
to be no future retribution, where shall the injured be avenged, or 
the bloody criminal arrested in the triumph of his wickedness.? If 
then God's moral character is to remain unimpeached, and the pil- 
lars of his throne kept up by an unswerving observance of the laws 



LECTURE XIII. — CHAPTER VI. 1, 2, 3. 



149 



which were published under its authority, it is plain that there will 
hc^must be a future judgment. 

Conscience too still lingering round her thronej shocked and out- 
raged with the injustice of the world, points distinctly to a future 
judgment. Men may argue and equivocate on this subject as they 
please, and form whatever skeptical conclusions they please 
but low in the secret chambers of every soul there is an indelible 
impression of the real truth. There is a voice in the heart \vhich 
cannot be hushed, and which causes all the wily sophistry of the 
intellect to blush and cower. The fact is founded in the very laws 
of nature, interwoven with the very framework of our being, and 
predetermined in tlie eternal arrangements of Deity — there must be 
a reckoning between every rational creature and its Creator. 

Nor has Jehovah failed to declare it in his word. Long before 
the dawn of the christian era was it said by the sacred preacher, 
" God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret 
thing, whether it be good, or whether it be bad." Paul, as he 
thundered the revelations of the Gospel into the ears of the Athenian 
philosophers and judges, declared, " God hath appointed a day, in 
the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom 
he hath ordained ; w^hereof he hath given assurance unto all men, 
in that he hath raised him from the dead." And as the last tones 
of the Spirit's voice were dying on mortal ears, were not these 
words among the last and most solemn to which it gave utterance — 
" Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to render 
unto every man according as his work shall be !" Yea, already the 
streaming glory of his approach has shot across the deep darkness 
of our world; and already the thunder of his charriot wheels is 
echoing over the distant spheres ! The time is at hand when it 
shall be said, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he 
which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that is righteous, let 
him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." 
The "sixth seal" is already opening; soon the mighty earthquake 
shall be felt," the sun become black as sackcloth of hair, and the 
moon become as blood, and the stars of heaven fall unto the earth, 
and the heaven - depart as a scroll when it is rolled together, and 
every mountain and island be moved out of their places, and the 
kings of the earth, and the great men, and the chief captains, and 
the mighty men, and every bond-man, and every freeman hide them- 



150 



Lecture xiii. — chajter vi. 1, 2, 3. 



selves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and say to the 
locks and mountains, Fall on us, and hide us from the face "of him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb ; for 
the great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to 
stand !" 

And what a day of awful revelations will that be ! Vv^hat secret 
sins, and midnight plots of undeveloped wickedness will then be 
brought to light. Hypocritic masks, and the dazzling flare of false 
pretences will then all vanish and many a soul now reckoned as a 
saint — honest, and holy, and fit for heaven, Yvill stand in the open 
view of all, covered and deformed by all the hideous ugliness of 
hell. From the hidden chambers of many an unsuspected heart, 
will be searched out the " evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, for- 
nications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies," &c., which lurked 
there in close seclusion from the gaze of men, and be published in 
the audience of the universe. The secrets of every character will 
be revealed, and histories of men reputed wise and good exhibited, 
which will look like the biographies of devils ! 

And vrhat a day of confusion and dismay for the guilty. The 
conviction then of a Savior slighted — salvation spurned — time 
wasted — talents abused — heaven contemned — and the soul neglect- 
ed — will transpierce the unregenerate with untold agony ; whilst 
the contempt of the entire universe is heaped upon them in all its 
intolerable weight. Driven away in their wickedness, they then 
shall have 

" No patron ! intercessor, none! — Now past 
The sweet, the clement, mediatorial hour! 
For guilt no plea ! To pain no paused — no bound ! 
Inexorable all ! And all extreme ! 

And what a day of bitter separation will that be. Often have I 
tearfully thought upon the final division of the righteous and the 
wicked — of the tender ties which will then be riven — and the bit- 
ter tears which will then be shed. A noble poet exclaims — 

" Strange parting ! not for hours, nor days, nor months, 
/ Nor for ten thousand times ten thousand years ^ 
But for a whole eternity ! — though fit, 
And pleasant to the righteous, yet to all 
Strange, and most strangely felt ! The sire, to right 
Retiring, sees the son — sprung from his loins, 
Beloved how dearly once ! but who forgot 



LECTURE XIII. CHAPTER VI. 1, 2, 3. 



151 



Too soon in sins intoxicating cap 

The father's warnings and the mother's tears — 

Fall to the left among the reprobate ; 

And sons redeemed, behold the fathers whom 

They loved and lionored once, gathering among 

The wicked. Brothers, sisters, kinsmen, friends ^ 

Husband and wife who ate at the same board, 

And under the same roof united dwelt 

From youth to hoary hairs, bearing the chance 

And change of Time together, part then 

Forevermore !" 

And are there not some who hear me now, whose most cherished 
ties will then be broken by an eternal separation from the object of 
your love } Are there none present who will there take the last 
lingering look at the countenance of parting friendship — there print 
the last affectionate kiss — and there take the last leave of the loved 
forever ! The Lord save us all from the shame and anguish of the 
day of judgment ! 



LECTURE XiV. 



THE UNPARDONABLE SIN. 

Heb. vi. 4 — ^8. For it is impossible for those who were once enlighlenecl, and have 
tasted of the lieavenlj gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have 
tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall 
fall away, to renew them again unto repentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves 
the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drink- 
eth in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by 
whom it is dressed, receivelh blessing from God. But that which bearelh thorns 
and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing ; whose end is to be burned. 

In announcing these words as the subject of a popular discourse, 
I am conscious that a dreary road and a heavy task lie before me. 
First, because of the great obscurity in which long and fruitless 
controversy has involved them ; and secondly, because of the ac- 
knowledged difficulty attending the subject of which they treat. — • 
The thing itself, however, is so important, and the reward which 
is in reserve for him who shall succeed in giving a clear and satis- 
factory exposition of it is so brilliant, that I shall not suffer myself 
to be embarrassed by the probability of a failure, or by any fears 
of encroaching upon the authority of creeds or of councils. My 
object shall be, in a common sense way, (for common sense is al- 
ways the best law of interpretation,) to present as far as I may be 
able, what I humbly conceive to be the obvious meaning of the 
text, and the true nature of the fatal deed of which it speaks. 

The subject of the text, as must strike every one, is the unpar- 
donable sin. The apostle explicitly declares it " impossible for 
those who were once enlightened, if they shall fall away, to renew 
them again unto repentance." It is the same fatal offense of which 
Christ, and John, and Paul have spoken in different portions of the 
Bible. The compilers of Ihe marginal references which we find 
accompanying the Scriptures, have coupled the text with those 
passages which speak of the unpardonable sin; and all the circum- 
stances of the case go on to sliov/, that this is the particular sub- 
ject which tlie apostle wished to bring to the view of his readers. 

The design of the apostle rendered the introduction of this sub- 
ject at this stage of his argument very appropriate, and beautifully 



LECTURE XIV. — CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



153 



illustrates bis oratorial address. He had just introduced the priest- 
hood of Melchizedek as that after which the priesthood of Messiah 
was particularly patterned. He well knew that such an announce- 
ment must excite the prejudices and contempt of the Jews — that 
all the cherished associations of their civil and religious institutions 
would be roused into opposition to the entertainment of such a de- 
claration — and that many, even of those who had previously re- 
spected and embraced Christianity, would be likely to look upon it 
as such an impious depreciation of all that they were accustomed 
to hold sacred as to refuse to be any longer identified with the re- 
ligion of Jesus. Paul's wisdom was now called into requisition to 
^prevent such an anticipated apostasy. To this end, as well as to 
lead scoffers to the careful consideration of a subject which if prop- 
erly viewed must fasten conviction on the heart, he proceeds to 
lay before them the awful consequences which would inevitably 
follow that course of conduct which he describes in the text. He, 
the most solemnly declares, that if they should apostatize, enlight- 
ened and privileged as they were, it would be forever impossible 
for them to be again restored. It is thus by the terrors of an un- 
pardonable sin that he compels them to duty. 

The nature of this unpardonable sin has in the main been a mat- 
ter of mystery, and often of painful embarrassment. The princi- 
pal reason is, that the passages in which it is spoken of, in order to 
be accommodated to human systems, theories and creeds, have had 
so many subtle speculations heaped upon them, and have been so 
much encumbered with the redundancies of learning, as to bewil- 
der any common inquirer after truth, and to drive him away from 
•its investigation with the deep impression upon his mind that it is 
some great and unfathomable secret not intended for the compre- 
hension of mortals. But that this impression is erroneous, it seems 
to me can be clearly shown. And though we may not be able at 
once to comprehend clearly every circum.stantial modification of 
this thing ; yet, the great matter which concerns us is conceived 
to.be sufficiently clear for all to understand. 

1. In order then to show that there is really such a thing as an 
unpardonable sin recognized in the Divine economy as it respects 
this world, as well as to have distinctly before us what the Bible 
says on the subject, I will here present the most important and 
striking passages. The first is from 1 John, v. 16. " If any man 
11 



154 



LECTURE XIV. CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and 
he shall give them life for them that sin not unto death. There is 
a sin unto death : I do not say that he shall pray for it." The sec- 
ond is from Matthew xii. 31, 32. "Wherefore I say unto you, 
All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men : but 
the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto 
men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it 
shall be forgiven him : but whosoever speaketh against the Holy 
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in 
the world to come." The same with a little verbal alteration is 
repeated by Mark and Luke. The third is from Hebrews x. 26, 
27. " For if we sin wdlfuUy after that we have received the knowl- 
edge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a 
certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which 
shall devour the adversaries." To which is to be added the text 
under consideration : " For it is impossible for those who were 
once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were 
made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word 
of God, and the powers of the world to come ; if they shall fall 
away, to renew them again unto repentance." 

2. From these words it seems plain, that the primary feature — 
the foundation and root of the unpardonable siji is, opposition to the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ. The passage from John is so brief, that 
we can learn from it very little more than the fact of the possibili- 
ty for men to commit a sin for which there shall be no forgiveness. 
As to what this sin is, he says nothing. A mere glance at the cir- 
cumstances which occasioned those awful words of the Savior 
from Matthew, will show, that opposition to Christ was the essen- 
tial feature of the sin there denounced. From the beginning of 
Christ's public ministry the Pharisees were his implacable enemies, 
and labored continually for the suppression of his authority. And 
the most outrageous expression which their settled opposition to 
him ever received, was that which immediately preceded and oc- 
casioned the utterance of these terrible words. The apostle in the 
10th of Hebrews characterizes the unpardonable sin, as a wilful 
sin against the truth. This of course implies opposition to the 
Gospel. And in the text he designates it as apostasy from the 
christian faith, which of course also implies opposition to the Gos- 
pel. It is to be received (hen as a settled point, that the founda- 
tion and root of the unpardonable sin is opposition to the Gospel. 



LECTURE XIV. — CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



155 



3. Opposition to the Gospel, however, may proceed from divers 
motives, and may be carried on by different individuals under dif- 
ferent circumstances, with different degrees of criminality. Far be 
it from me to say that all opposition to the Gospel is sin for which 
there is no forgiveness. Thousands we have reason to hope are 
this day rejoicing with the redeemed, ^vho were once illustrious 
among the opposers of Christianity. Paul, and Bunyan, and Ro- 
chester found upon repentance of their fearful guilt that there was 
even mercy and pardon for them. That opposition to the Gospel 
which is unpardonable, and which constitutes the fatal deed spo- 
ken of in the text, is opposition under peculiar circumstances — op- 
positio7i to the Gospel agamst the clear convictions of conscience. — 
This seems also to be clearly expressed in the passages which I 
have presented. 

The Savior says, " whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, 
it shall not be forgiven him." By the " Holy Ghost'''' here, we are 
doubtless to understand the Spirit of God — the operating energy 
proceeding from the Father and the Son. Not considered howev- 
er in that limited sense in which the Divine spirit was promised to 
the disciples as the " Comforter (for it is altogether a mistaken 
notion that there was no dispensation of the Spirit prior to the day 
of Pentecost ;) but in the sense in which it is said, " The Spirit of 
God moved upon the face of the waters." We are to understand 
by it that Divine energy by which Christ performed his miracles. 
In the 28th verse he distinctly declares that it was by the " Spirit 
of God" he accomplished those wonders which crowded upon his 
footsteps. These miracles, whose authorship is thus ascribed to 
the Holy Ghost, were all intended as the proofs of Christ's Divine 
mission and messiahship. They were the grand evidences to which 
he appealed in vindication of his authority. They were the "signs 
and wonders" which testified to the Divinity of the Gospel, and 
pressed home upon the hearts and consciences of men its indispu- 
table claims. And they were evidences too which none could in- 
nocently resist. They were evidences tangible to the senses, and 
which adequately testified to every conscience that Jesus was the 
Christ. What was it then to speak against, or blaspheme the Ho- 
ly Ghost — what could it have been, but a refusal to be controlled 
by this incontrovertible testimony ? To persevere in opposition to 
the Gospel under such circumstances, w^as virtually to make the 



156 



LECTURE XIV. CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



Holy Ghost a liar, and to trample the high behests of conscience 
in the dust. 

Paul says, if we sin ivilfully after that we have received the 
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." 
And to sin designedly — to oppose the Gospel after being fully sat- 
isfied that it is good and true, is unquestionably to sin against light 
and against all moral feeling. 

And the text declares' it "impossible for those who were once 
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made 
partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of 
God, and the powers of the world to come ; if they shall fall away, 
to renew them again unto repentance." To show more satisfactor- 
ily that the sin here described is opposition to the Gospel against 
the most decided convictions, I must call your attention to the pre- 
cise characters of whom, in case of apostasy, restoration is declar- 
ed impossible. They are such as " were once enlightened." To 
be enlightened, is to be acquainted with duty — to know the truth. 
They saw then from the agreement of the apostles with the proph- 
dts, and of the prophecies with their accomplishments, that Jesus 
was the Messiah, and that his religion was Divine. They had al- 
so " tasted of the heavenly gift." The pre-eminent gift of heaven 
is a Savior to redeem us. To taste, is to experience — to know 
from personal participation. Hence they had experienced for 
themselves Christ's saving power. They were moreover " parta- 
kers of the Holy Ghost." To partake of the Holy Ghost, is to 
share in his influences. His influences are enlightening, renewing, 
sanctifying and confirming. In these gracious influences they had 
shared. They had " tasted the good word of God," i. e. They 
had experienced and relished the excellency of the truth of God. — 
They did not merely admire it for its poetry — its sublimity — its 
argument ; but for its good — its adaptation to their wants — its truth 
— its glorious promises : a relish which the wicked on no occasion 
display. They had also " tasted the powers of the world to come." 
The world to come among the Jews denoted the dispensation of 
Messiah. In this dispensation there have been extraordinary and 
sacred powers put forth. The preaching of a perpetual ministry 
and the. peculiar influences of the Holy Ghost are powees which 
belong to the christian economy. These powers they had person- 
ally experienced— shared— reZisM. They had partaken of the 



LECTURE XIV. CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



157 



promised blessings of Messiah's kingdom. These certainly were 
no mean attainments. It is plain that much of christian life and 
grace was theirs. Hence they must have had an adequate experi- 
mental acquaintance with the truth, sufficiency and Divine authori- 
ty of the christian religion. Who does not see then, if under such 
circumstances they would fall away" — apostatize, that they must 
seal up their hearts against the most decided convictions, and brave 
with inflexible hardiness all the right impulses of their nature. I 
lay it down then as a settled position, that the unpardonable sin 
comprises opposition to the Gospel against the clear convictions of 
conscience. 

4. But extremely hazardous and aggravated as it is to sin against 
light and conscience, tliis sin is still not absolutely unpardonable. It 
is possible for us to conceive of such circumstances, but perilous 
would be the experiment, in which a man might sin against the 
clear convictions of his heart — in which he might oppose the Gos- 
pel when he as distinctly and decidedly knew that he was in the 
wrong as the damned in hell are satisfied of their errors, and yet 
upon a subsequent change of his ..outward relations, and the return 
of similar spiritual influences might still yield his opposition, re- 
pent and be saved. I do not say that such instances ever have oc- 
curred, nor that any such ever will occur ; but simply that such a 
thing is conceivable. There is still an additional consideration 
which determines the unpardonable character of this opposition to 
the Gospel. It is not only opposition against the clear convictions 
of conscience ; but it is resolved opposition of this sort at a particu- 
lar crisis in the history of the individual — at a time when the mo- 
tives and influences for acceptance of, or perseverance in the chris- 
tian faith have reached their highest possible extent, and when a 
decision in the opposition would place him in such a state and such 
circumstances as must forever preclude the return of such seasons, 
privileges and influences. This is what I understand by the un- 
pardonable sin. Let us see then how far I am borne out by the text. 

First then for the case of the Pharisees. Of course we have not 
time for all the details; but when we look at their conduct toward 
the Savior all along, we see from the commencement a deep and 
settled opposition to him and to his cause, which daily grew in inten- 
sity until it finally eflected his crucifixion on Mount Calvary. We 
see too in all that prolonged and bitter hostility a constant and delib- 



158 



LECTURE XIV. CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



erate war against their own consciences, and all the gracious influ- 
ences that were at work for their salvation. But nowhere in their 
history was there such a peculiar and mighty appeal made to them 
by the Savior, as that which occasioned those awful words. Christ 
had just performed in their presence one of his most astounding 
miracles, by healing a poor blind and dumb demoniac. The pecu- 
liarity of this miracle was, says Chalmers, that " it was just such 
an one as the Pharisees themselves were accustomed to look upon 
with veneration, and had viewed as an example of successful hostili- 
ty against the empire of darkness." The casting out of devils was 
a work to which they pretended, and which they eVer ascribed to 
a direct agency of Divine power. This is the circumstance which 
gave this appeal its peculiar force. They had opposed him in the 
face of all his other miracles. They beheld the blind seeing — the 
deaf hearing — the lame walking— the sick rising from their 
couches in perfect health — and the very dead coming up from the 
putrid grave by the mysterious power which accompanied the man 
of sorrows. They heard the cry of conviction, and felt it in their 
own hearts — " Is not this the Christ .f"' But in the face of it all, 
they clung with unyielding tenacity to the desperate intent to crush 
the Savior's growing authority. An appeal, with essentially the 
same force, and with the additional circumstance of its being 
grounded upon their own settled principles, was now made. The 
evidence of Christ's messiahship was now put upon a basis to be 
exerted to the very utmost of its controlling power upon their 
hearts. Things had evidently reached a crisis. The turning point 
was not whether they would ascribe the work of the Holy Ghost 
in the miracle before them to Satan, or pass it by in silence as they 
had done on other occasions. I cannot see how the mere ascrip- 
tion of the Spirit's work to Satan can be a greater sin than to call 
the Son of God a devil, which they did. Certainly the Son and the 
Spirit are equal, and the sin and blasphemy of calling one a devil, is 
Done the less pardonable than to call the other a devil. This ascription 
of the miracle before them to Beelzebub was certainly only an out- 
ward expedient expressive of something which existed in their 
hearts. And as Christ always estimated guilt as it existed in the 
heart, and not merely as it was expressed in the word or deed, we 
have reason to believe that he referred to that secret something, 
more than to this particular outward blasphemy, when he uttered 



LECTURE XIV. — CHAPTER VI, 4 — 8. 



159 



that awful sentence. The plainest and most consistent view of the 
matter is, that the opposition to Jesus Christ which had so long and 
so fiercely been carried on, was now brought to a crisis. The 
claims of the Savior were here put upon the ground which 
gave them the highest possible advantage. If the Jews would now 
yield to these claims in humble penitence, there was yet salvation 
for them; but if they still pressed their opposition against the open 
conclusions of their own settled and avowed principles, certainly 
there could be no hope for them in time or in eternity. And press 
their opposition they did. Rather than own the hand of God, or~ 
submit to the demonstration of his power in the miracle before 
them, they went round the whole compass of their principles, and 
quashed the voice of everyone of them. Seizing upon tiie misera- 
ble and impious plea, that Christ cast out devils by Beelzebub the 
prince of the devils, they spurned a Savior from their hearts. Yes, 
with conscience strung to its utmost tension, and pouring out its 
anathemas ao-ainst them furious and terrible as Sinai's thunders — 
driven to the blasphemous alternative of ascribing to Satan the pre- 
rogatives of the Holy Ghost — and right under the eyes of him 
whom they could not fail to be convinced was the Messiah, they 
deliberately resolved not to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ. 
Such circumstances thus passed through could never again return 
to them. That act gave them an impetus in the direction of wrong 
which no moral intiuences could ever arrest. It set a precedent 
for their consciences, (for conscience acts from precedent in indi- 
vidual history as men do from precedents in the history of socie- 
ty,) which rendered it eternally impossible for conviction to return 
to them with the same degree of clearness and force. So that from 
the very nature of the case, it was an act which determined their 
destiny, and sealed their perdition. They threw themselves into 
the ^vrong side of the balance when the only question was salvation 
or damnation. So that from this case at least it would appear, that 
the unpardonable sin was correctly stated to be, resolved opposi- 
tion to the Gospel just at the crisis when everything is in league to 
have us submit to its authority. 

In the 10th of Hebrews the same thing is implied, though not 
brought out with the same clearness as in the case of the Phari- 
sees. To " sin wilfully after that Vv'e have received the knowl- 
edge of the truthj" i. e. to forsake the assembling of ourselves to- 



160 



LECTURE XIV. — CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



gether, and renounce our profession, when at the same time we 
have a perfect acquaintance with our duty in the case, evidently im- 
plies downright opposition to the Gospel, and that too under moral 
influences which call most urgently for perseverance in the christian 
faith. For those guilty of such procedure, there remaineth only 
" a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,*" 
because they have deliberately renounced the only plan of salva- 
tion, and that under circumstances more favorable than any that 
might again occur. 

3d. And as for the text, Those who were once enlightened, 
and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of 
the Holy Ghost, and tasted the good word of God, and the pow- 
ers of the world to come," certainly possessed _e very advantage on 
the side of their perseverance. Experience is the most conclusive 
of all testimony. By the processes of logical induction we may be 
led to reliable conclusions ; by mathematical demonstration our 
minds may be compelled to give assent to certain propositions. — ■ 
But the experience of a truth clothes it with a controlling power 
which it does not otberwise exert upon us. This advantage was 
theirs. For them then to " fall away" — with deliberate calcula- 
tion in the face of all their convictions and blissful participations, 
to relinquish their christian profession, there would be no more 
hope of restoration. Falling from such a height, the shock would 
be too great, the consequences would be too serious for them ever 
again to reach their former position. Their sin would be unpar- 
donable, because it would be a relinquishment of the only way 
under heaven in which they might be saved, and just at the time 
too when everything within them and about them to the utmost 
possible extent weighed down the scale on the side of their sal- 
vation. 

This view will receive some further support from a class of texts 
which were not presented at the regular place lest their pertinency 
should be questioned. I refer to the sixth of Genesis, where we 
read — ^' And the Lord said. My Spirit shall not always strive with 
man;" and to a few similar passages in the apostolic writings, such 
as " Quench not the Spirit ;" " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God," 
&c. The great province of the Holy Spirit is, to " convince men 
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come" — to give life and 
efficiency to the Gospel in all its claims and gracious proclama- 



LECTURE XIV. — CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



161 



tions. Without the operations of this sacred agency none could 
be brought to the knowledge of the truth or the glories of heaven. 
Whether the influences of this Spirit ever entirely ceased to be ex- 
erted upon any individual previous to the hour of death, I am not 
prepared to affirm. But it is a matter of experience and of revela- 
tion, that if they do not cease to be exerted, they not unfrequently 
cease to be felt to anything like a saving degree long before the 
period of this life is reached. There is a principle of pliability in 
our nature which renders us susceptible of nearly any kind of phys- 
ical, mental, or moral education. Every one will find by reference 
to his own experience, that when once accustomed to a certain 
regimen, it in time becomes so effectually a part of our nature as 
often to pass beyond our power to change it. Long indulgence in 
vice often totally unfits a man for the practice of virtue. The cul- 
tivation and continual exercise of any particular mental faculty for 
years, begets a sort of necessity which makes the subsequent per- 
formance of its functions a matter of course. So also in a man's 
conduct under the influences of the Spirit of God. By closing up 
the soul against its illuminations — refusing to obey its promptings — 
and stifling in their incipiency all its saving influences, and fre- 
quently repeating this mode of dealing with the heavenly Messen- 
ger, a habit of resistance is contracted which continually grows 
and strengthens, until the soul becomes so perfectly skilled in the 
work as to go through the whole minutia of its performance in ut- 
ter unconsciousness. This is certainly what is meant by quench- 
ing the Spirit. To this sad state many doubtless arrive long before 
death. And when a man has once gone thus far, he is lost as cer- 
tainly as he exists. His soul shall go down to death, because no 
more capable of being moved by any softening einotions. It is ev- 
ident too, that in his passage from a salvable to this unpardonable 
state, there w^as a certain crisis at which his destiny was decided. 
Up to that point there still was hope, but after that none ; because 
his resistance had then gone so far — the habit grown so strong — ■ 
the fetters so tightly rivited as to render it impossible for him to 
overcome them — to repent — or to believe. I feel then that I am 
fully borne out by the Scriptures in the statement which I have 
made, that the unpardonable sin is resolved opposition to the Gos- 
pel against the clear convictions of conscience, and at a time — a 
time which occurs in the history of every individual, when circum- 
stances have narrow^ed the whole matter to a crisis. 



162 



LECTURE XIV. CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



5. It has been made a question which deserves a remark, wheth- 
er the unpardonable sin is one act of " rare, monstrous and specific 
iniquity or whether it is the accumulated obduracy and hardness 
of half, or even more than half a life-time. The proper reply, in 
accordance with what has now been said, is, that it comprehends 
both. The sin is one act ; but it is an act for which no one is com- 
petent who has not had some previous drilling in the art of oppo- 
sition. The very first act of resistance to the promptings of the 
Spirit, and the claims of religion, is one step towards it. Every 
successive act of that sort brings the individual nearer and nearer 
to the great turning point ; until at length one single act proves to 
be a sin for which there is no forgiveness in time or in eternity. 
Every step in the course is sin, and great sin ; but it is this one act 
at this particular time, which forever seals the rebel's doom. It is 
not at all a sudden outburst of passion. It does not spring upon 
the soul with the suddenness of surprise. It is something in which 
habit is greatly concerned — a thing of deliberate calculation. It 
requires numerous steps in the direction of the fatal line before it 
can be crossed ; but it is a single step which crosses it. That fa- 
tal step does not differ materially in its nature from those going be- 
fore it. Its fatal character depends upon its relations. It is the 
fatal slep^ because it is the step which turns the scale. The mo- 
ment an individual takes it, he enters upon a different territory. — 
He from that instant begins to breathe the atmosphere of death. 
No dew of mercy can any more descend upon his soul. He stands 
among the beings who surround him like the oak that lifts up its 
head, only that the lightnings of heaven may make it their play- 
thing, and then rive it to its roots. He cannot repent. He cannot 
even wish to repent. He is lost, and he does not know it. 

6. It has also been made a question whether this unpardonable 
sin may be committed at the present day. To this inquiry it may 
be answered, that the unpardonable sin cannot be committed at the 
present day under precisely the same circumstances in wliich many 
committed it in the early days of Christianity. Nor can it be com- 
mitted by those poor heathen Vvho have never heard of Christ, or 
had his Gospel presented to them for their acceptance. But did I 
declare that it cannot at all be committed at the present day, I 
would frustrate the whole design of the text, and do awa}' the sig- 
nificance of the whole argument. Limiting then my remarks to the 



LECTURE XIY. — CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



163 



nations of Christendom, I unhesitatingly affirm that it may be com- 
mitted now, and that it is committed every year by hundreds and 
thousands of poor obstinate wretches who shall never — never be 
forgiven. For though our relations to a former dispensation and 
to other institutions are not precisely those of the Jews, yet our re- 
lation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same. The same word 
that was preached unto them, is preached unto us. The same du- 
ties which were required of them, are required of us. The same 
Spirit which gave efficacy to that word and prompted to christian 
duty then, is in operation now. The laws of our nature and of the 
economy of grace are the same now as they were then. And why 
then may not the same unpardonable sin be committed at the pres- 
ent day ? It is true we have not the evidence of miracles perform- 
ed in our own presence to resist. It is true we have no selfish and 
erroneous conceptions of an expected Messiali to lead us on to in- 
fidelity. But Vv'e have evidences equal if not superior to those 
against which the Pharisees sinned. They had the evidence of 
miracles, we have the accumulated evidence of centuries. 

Again, all the essential circumstances connected with this sin, 
and all the indications which it furnishes we have every day exhib- 
ited to our senses. I believe that ministers and pious people often 
mistake in attributing a want of success in Gospel efforts in any 
particular community to some deficiency in pu]pit performances. 
The fault may sometimes be there ; but more frequently in the in- 
corrigible tempers of those who attend them. The Gospel is not 
altogether omnipotent. Its success depends a great deal more up- 
on the manner in which it is received, than the manner in which it 
is presented. I do not underrate wisdom and fidelity in the minis- 
try. But I cannot resist the conviction, that the frequent and final 
apostasies of men who seemed to set out well in the christian course, 
and that heaven-daring and resolved suppression of religious feel- 
ing and determined and unconquerable opposition to the claims of 
God and of the soul shown by so many, exhibit all the features of 
the unpardonable sin. Flow frequently do we meet w^ith men of 
honorable feelings and genteel deportment in all their worldly as- 
sociations, who are characterized with a most incorrigible hardness 
as regards the claims of religion and the soul. We see them pass- 
ing through the most trying and impressive scenes, without once 
being melted by the most moving exhibitions of Divine tendernesSj 



164 



LECTURE XIV. CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



or the least alarmed at all that is appalling in the Divine judgments. 
Their hearts seem totally dead to all moral sensibility. If we hold 
up to their view the crimson wickedness of their natures and lives^ 
they exhibit no relentings nor remorse. If we paint to their imag- 
inations in all solemnity the horrors which await the impenitent in 
eternity, they pass it off with a smile. If we point them to the 
sunny land of promise and tell them of the joys of the ransomed, 
they sigh in consciousness that such are not their joys, but then turn 
away their eyes in utter forgetfulness. Nothing seems to seize 
upon their minds, or to wake up the least emotion in the dark cham- 
bers of their sullen hearts. All the enginery of truth plays upon 
them to no effect. And I have no doubt that every faithful minis- 
ter in the land, or in the w^orld, can testify to the existence of such 
characters. Upon what ground then is this sad state of things to 
be accounted for? Where is an explanation of this remarkable 
phenomenon to be found My hearers, the history of such men in 
their relation to the Gospel is obvious and uniform. They are 
themselves the monuments, the living records of their ow^n con- 
duct. Wherever you meet with one of them, lay it down as a 
thing decided wnthout any further inquiry, that he has committed, 
or is on the verge of committing the unpardonable sin. The Gos- 
pel of Christ with every one of them has been the object of most 
decided opposition. They have opposed it until opposition to sa- 
cred things has become the prevailing bent of their nature. They 
have resisted the Spirit until all its influences are quenched. They 
have acted against the clear convictions of conscience, until con- 
science and their whole moral constitution has been blunted and 
" seared as wnth a hot iron." You may see the Cain-like scowl 
upon their brows which their own hands have set as the index of 
approaching perdition. They have given moral death a hold upon 
their vitals which can no more be broken. And just as dead bod- 
ies float in unconsciousness down a stream of water, so they now 
glide along the stream of time only to be aroused to the true sense 
of their condition as they sink into the vortex of eternity. And by 
running your recollection round the sphere of your own acquaint- 
ance, no doubt every one of you can single some individual whom 
you know to have encountered many a hard struggle w ith the Spir- 
it of God, and to have received many a heavy arrow of conviction 
deeply into his heart ; but who has carried on his opposition to 



LECTURE XIV. — CHAPTER VI. 4 — 8. 



165 



God and the light of his own conscience until he has no more feel- 
ing oh the subject of religion than if his heart were carved of ada- 
mant. Whatever others may call this, I contend that it exhibits 
all the essential features of the unpardonable sin of which the Bi- 
ble speaks, and proves beyond question that it may be committed 
even in our day. 

There are yet a few other aspects of this subject which it would 
be interesting to consider. But with all the brevity with which I 
have been able to present what you have now received, a brevity 
too which I fear has done some injustice to the argument, I find 
that my hour is past. In conclusion then permit me to ask, what 
effect has the delivery of these truths produced upon your minds? 
Have they inspired you who still oppose the claims of religion up- 
on your souls with the sentiment, that your depravity has not yet 
reached its highest pitch, and consequently you are yet safe for 
heaven.'' Have they led you in any shape to lay the flattering unc- 
tion to your souls, that the unpardonable sin has not yet been ad- 
ded to the catalogue of your crimes? Do you still feel composed 
and serene ? Is there this moment no agitation in your breasts ? 
Have you no serious apprehensions that probably you have gone 
too far ? I will not express a fear that any now before me have 
passed the bounds of forgiveness; for such seldom have either in- 
terest or curiosity enough to enter the enclosures of the sanctuary. 
But I will say, in the name of the God who hears me and will final- 
ly judge me, if these awful truths do not make you serious or ex- 
cite your fears, you have but one step more to take and your dam- 
nation will be inevitable ! A few more insults to the Spirit — a few 
more suppressions of the voice of conscience — a- few more refu- 
sals to repent and the conflict will be over but the victory forever^ 
lost ! Already some of you can listen to all the touching scenes of 
the Savior's history without the kindling of a single emotion. Al- 
ready can you listen to all the moving tenderness of a beseeching 
God without the slightest disposition to obey him. Already you 
can look the swelling judgments of the Almighty — the solemnities 
of death — the imposing realities of eternity directly in the face with 
an unflinching calmness. All this betokens that the precious har- 
vest time of your salvation is near its close. One slender shred 
alone sustains your hopes of heaven. It is not the purpose of re- 
pentance at some future day. Your presejit conduct is to decide 



166 



LECTURE XIV. CHAPTER VI. 4 8. 



the bliss or wo of your immortality? If you rush at once to the 
feet of your injured Savior, heaven shall yet be your home. If 
you yield and submit to him nowj the harps — the robes — the palms 
— the crowns which glitter in the promises shall yet be yours. 
But if you resolve now again to postpone the matter, the Scriptures 
do not warrant me to say there is any hope for you* Then by all 
that is moving in tenderness — by all that is solemn in death and 
judgment — by all that is horrible in hell — by all that is glorious in 
heaven, I conjure you to repent — repent — Repent ! JVow ! 



LECTURE XV. 



THE ESSENTIAL ACCOMPANIMENTS AND HIGHEST STATE OF CHRIS- 
TIAN CHARACTER. 

Heb. vi. 9 — 12. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and fhings 
that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to 
forget 3'our work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in 
that ye have ministeied to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every 
one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end : 
that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience in- 
herit the promises. 

The apostle having expatiated as we saw in the last lecture, upon 
the utter hopelessness of those who should apostatize, here softens 
down his address into a most friendly application to those to whom 
he more particularly wrote. He calls them "beloved," and ex- 
presses his happy persuasion that such would not be their conduct 
and doom, but that they would go on with a diligence and faith 
which would eventually result in salvation. Nor does he make this 
remark as a rash presumption. The grounds upon which the per- 
suasion is based, are the good works and labors of love which they 
had wrought for the name of God. They had contributed, and 
were yet contributing to the support and comfort of the poor chris- 
tians, who were suffering persecution in Judea. This was a pure- 
ly disinterested charity, flowing from their love to the Lord Jesus ; 
and was one of the things which evinced their common sympathy 
and identity with the cause of Christianity. Seeing them thus com- 
mitted on the side of the Savior, and bringing forth some of the 
fruits of christian life, Paul was led to hope that they would not 
renounce the faith and thus render themselves undone eternally. 

One lesson taught us in the text, which I here announce as the 
first proposition of this discourse, is, that all true christians always 
have some marks by ichich they are designated. It was a custom of 
some of the ancients to wear physical marks of their religion. — 
They frequently tattooed their faces and hands, or other portions of 
the body, by drawing the images, or writing the names of their 
gods, or by giving some sign which showed the order of their re- 



168 



LECTURE XV.— CHAPTER VI. 9—12. 



ligion. The Jews often wore certain precepts of their law^ upon 
their foreheads, or the pahns of their hands. And Malcom, a 
traveller of considerable distinction, has observed a similar custom 
prevailing in Madras, even to the present day. And though it does 
not form any part of christian character or custom thus to deform 
ourselves for the purpose of exhibiting our religion ; it is yet very 
clear that the Scriptures contemplate the outward manifestation of 
some m.arks by which w^e are to be recognized as the disciples of 
Christ. Christ himself said to his followers, " Ye are the light of 
the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do 
men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; 
and it giveth light to all that are in the house. So let your light 
shine before men.^' There is then no such thing as being a chris- 
tian secretly, or a christian w^ithout having the fact known. The 
very nature of Christianity is a confession of Christ. " Whosoever 
shall confess me before men," says he, " him shall the Son of man 
also confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me be- 
fore men, shall be denied before the angels of God." 

The marks of a christian are of two kinds, internal and external. 
The internal marks, which consist of supreme love to God and the 
testimony of the Spirit, are perceptible only to the individual him- 
self, and are altogether matters of consciousness. So far as these 
are concerned every man must be his own judge of his piety. The 
external marks, however, are those to Vvdiich the text more parti- 
cularly directs attention. These are also by far the most import- 
ant as it regards our relations to this world and each other. They 
furnish the only media through which we are to satisfy ourselves 
that a man truely has the work of grace going on in his heart. — 
They furnish the only basis of church discipline, and I believe tlie 
surest criteria by which any man can decide as to the genuineness 
of his faith. For these reasons I propose to make them the subject 
of some particular examination. And as I intend that what I say 
shall come in direct application to all of us, I hope to receive your 
earnest and prayerful attention. 

The first prominent mark of a genuine christian, is, that he is 
supremely interested and concerned with the things of the Spirit. 
The apostle says, " They that are after the flesh, do mind the 
things of the flesh ; and they that are after the Spirit, the things of 
the Spirit." Here we have the two great moral conditions of men, 



LECTURE XV. 1 



CHAPTER yi. 9 



12. 



169 



with the most prominent mark which distinguishes each condition. 
The unregenerate are supremely concerned with the things of this 
life. Fortune, pleasure, fame, power, and worldl}^ distinction are 
the objects of their highest aspirations and most untiring efforts. — 
The christian, though not utterly insensible to the attractions of this 
world, entertains a correct estimate of their nature and worth. In 
the place of centering his desires upon worldly wealth, he seeks 
to lay up " treasures in heaven, where moth doth not corrupt, nor 
thieves break through nor steal." Instead of being carried away 
with sensual pleasures, he lifts up his eyes in continual pursuit of 
those which are at the right hand of God forevermore. Instead of 
the applause of ignorant and erring men, he the more dearly prizes 
the favor and commendation of his God. Instead of seeking to 
wield the sceptres of earth, he ever longs for that " crown of right- 
eousness" which is in reserve for the faithful soldier of the cross, 
and for that sublime authority with which the saints " shall reign 
forever and ever." The whole drift of his feelings, and hence the 
whole bearing of his actions is heavenward. The whole tenor of 
his life is on the side of piety and holiness. He looks upon the 
world as a pilgrim and a stranger in it. He gratefully receives its 
hospitalities, but all the time looks toward heaven as his home. 
All his interests — all his sympathies — all his hopes are there. 
Knowing that here all his friendships must one day be severed — his 
pleasures wither — and his soul at last be disappointed in all its 
earthly stays; he sets his ''affections on things above, and not on 
things on the earth." Such a spirit pervading all his calculations 
and doings, is one of the "things which accompany salvation." 

Another essential accompaniment of christian character is gen- 
eral benevolence of disposition. Paul exhorts the Colossians, if 
they be of the elect, to " put on, as the elect of God, bowels of 
mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering ; 
forbearing one another, and forgiving one another." And how in- 
deed can a man be a follower of him who so loved us whilst in a 
state of enmity against him as to submit himself to all the shame 
and agony of crucifixion in order to avert from our heads the lifted 
thunders of enraged omnipotence, and not feel the movings of kind 
emotion ! Christianity originated in love — its nature is love — nor 
can it do otherwise than work by love. Hence says Paul, " Though 
I speak with the tongues of men and angels — have the gift of proph- 
12 



170 



LECTURE XV. — CHAPTER VI. 9 12. 



ecy — understand all mysteries and all knowledge — have faith to 
remove mountains — give all my goods to feed the poor, and my 
body to be burned — and have not charity ; I am become as sound- 
ing brass or a tinkling cymbal." Yea, says the loving John, " If 
a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he 
that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love 
God whom he hath not seen ! And this commandment have we from 
him, That he who loveth God, love his brother also." One of the 
most striking characteristics of the oriental christians, w^as their 
brotherly kindness. " See how these christians love one another!" 
were the words of admiration which burst from the lips of their 
persecutors. And it is recorded of the apostle John, when so old, 
feeble and blind, that after being carried to the assemblies of chris- 
tian worshipers he could say nothing more, he always said, " Lit- 
tle children, love one another." The true christian looks upon 
every man he meets, however lowly or degraded, as a brother. 
Though he has partialities even as Christ had his; and though he 
makes a wide distinction between his regard for the virtuous, and 
that which he has for the vicious ; yet, he looks upon all with a 
feeling of heart which prompts him to do everything in his power 
to promote their every good. A vein of benignity runs through all 
his feelings which finds delight only in the happiness of all. He 
entertains no malice ; harbors no unkindness or revenge ; and al- 
ways, under all circumstances loves his neighbor as himself. 

Another thing inseparable from genuine christian character, is 
unvarying honesty and holy living. The first question which Lemuel 
Haynes invariably asked when an individual was reported to him as 
' a christian was, " Is he honest .^" But an earlier and surer authority 
has said, " Hereby we do know that we love God, if we keep his 
commandQients. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his 
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." And God's 
commandments are exceeding broad. Not only do they apply to 
all places and all time ; but they also cover the whole ground of 
our duty to him — to ourselves — and to all mankind. They also ap- 
ply to the motive and the action — the conception and the execution 
of sin. A man may be guilty of breaking every precept in the dec- 
alogue after the inward man, and yet externally keep them at the 
same time to the letter. But to harbor any known wickedness in 
the heart, to cherish the thought of it, or to design or delight in any 



LECTURE XV. — CHAPTER VI. 9 12. 



171 



sin of any kind is utterly inconsistent with that trait of character of 
which I am speaking-. The Scriptures declare, " Whosoever is 
born of God cannot sin, because he is born of God." A sense 
there is in which even the holiest christians sin daily ; but the idea 
here is, tliat it is contrary to the christian's new nature to sin wil- 
lingly or knowingly, or to delight and live in sin. It is plain then 
that th.e Bible contemplates unvarying honesty and holiness of life 
to be an essential accompaniment of salvation. But when we ex- 
amine all the professed followers of Christ by this test, 

" What crowds in doubtful light appear !" 

When weighed in this balance, how many are found wanting ! 
How little difference is discernable between the general conduct of 
those who claim to be christians, and that of the veriest worldling. 
Do they not talk like the world — think like the world — ^^deal like 
the world — act like the world — and exclusive of their occasional 
appearance at the sacramental altar, are they at all to be distin- 
guished from the world? The true christian is like a clock which 
goes day and night alike. He makes his religion a subject of daily 
practice, and brings in its sanctifying principles to regulate every 
action of his life. When engaging in anything, it is not a question 
with him whether it will meet the approbation of the general it}^, or 
whether the conduct of other church-members presents any prece- 
dent for it; but his all-absorbing concern is, is it right? will it pro- 
mote the glory of God ? And though he does often err and come 
short of duty, the sincere purpose of his heart is nevertheless to 
come up to the very highest standard of moral purity whicli his 
Bible lays down. Though he does sometimes do wrong, his failures 
are his misfortunes and not his crimes. He is altogether honest in 
all his dealings, and upright in all his ways. 

These, my hearers, are some of the more prominent " things 
which accompany salvation." They are marks — essential and legit- 
imate products of all genuine piety. Point to the man, whether 
in or out of the church, who is not supremely interested in the 
things of the Spirit, who is not characterized witli a general bene- 
volence of disposition, and who does not exhibit unvarying honesty 
in all his transactions; and I will show you the man who has no 
right to the christian name, and no title to the christian's heaven. 
These things are as closely linked with a man's salvation as heat is 
with fire. They are as essentially associated as our bodies and 



172 



LECTURE XV. — CHAPTER VI. 9 12. 



souls. And if either of you be deficient in them, set it down as an 
unfailing certainty, that there is yet something wanting to make you 
a real christian, or to fit you for the society of heaven. And what 
I have to say to those of you who know yourselves to be deficient 
in these things, I will present in the striking language of the proph- 
et. Let the wicked forsake his w^ay, and the unrighteous man 
his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have 
mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." 

Another lesson taught in the text, which may serve as the second 
proposition of this discourse, is, that chnstians are not to stmid still 
in their profession^ hut go on to " the full assurance of hope.''^ — 
" And w^e desire," says the apostle, " that each one of you do 
show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the 
end." 

In reading the Scriptures, we often meet with phrases which are 
peculiarly and purely Hebrew in their origin. Thus — the rod 
of his power" — " the assurance of faith," &c. By which is to be 
understood " his powerful rod," and " a sure faith." The expres- 
sion " assurance of hope" comes under the same class, and means 
a sure hope, or such a hope as shall not disappoint. B4jrkitt says, 
(Notes in loc.) " a full assurance of hope, is such a fixed, constant, 
and prevailing persuasion, concerning the good things promised, 
and our certain enjoyment of them, as will support us under, and 
carry us through all the difiiculties and troubles that we conflict 
with." Barnes says, (Notes in loc.) " the full assurance of hope 
exists w^here there is the highest desire of heaven, and such corres- 
ponding evidence of personal piety as to leave no doubt that it will 
be ours." It is that exalted stage of christian perfection, in the en- 
joyment of which vve realize the certainty of final blessedness and 
glory, to a degree which full fruition cannot increase. It is for the 
christian to be as sure that he will be saved, as if he were already 
saved. That this state is attainable in this life I think can be clear- 
ly shown. 

1st. The Scriptures represent it as attainable. It is so repre- 
sented in the text. It is so represented by Peter where he exhorts 
us to make our " calling and election sz^re." It is so represented 
by Paul where he declares, " the Spirit itself beareth witness with 
our spirits that ice are the children of God." It is so represented 
by John where he says, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, 



LECTURE XV. — CHAPTER VI. 9 — 12. 



173 



and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but i(je know that, 
when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him 
as he is." Job declared, " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and 
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth : and though af- 
ter my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see 
God." _ David too exclaimed in his confidence, " As for me, I loill 
behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake 
with thy likeness." And also Paul, " Henceforth there is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
Judge will give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all 
them also that love his appearing." And if such is the voice of the 
Scriptures on the subject, who will venture to deny that a state of 
full assurance of hope is attainable in the present life ! 

2nd. It is possible for us in temporal matters to have hope and 
faith as sure and satisfactory as possession. Take this as an ex- 
ample. You furnish your friend with the funds, and send him out 
into the beautiful country which surrounds us to purchase for you a 
farm. He returns to you with an accurate discription of the whole 
situation. He brings you the deed all legally signed and sealed and 
places it in your possession. Everything to render your title valid 
is properly adjusted. In this case is your certainty that you have 
such a farm any the less than if you had both seen it, and gone 
through the whole transaction of purchasing it ? Is it anything less 
than if you were already all comfortably situated on it? Certainly 
not. You perceive then that even in temporal matters it is possible 
to have evidence equally strong with that of sight or possession. 
And why not the same in spiritual things? Christ Jesus has been 
sent by the Father to purchase for us an eternal inheritance. He 
has done so. The price is paid. The deed of the New Testa- 
ment all signed and sealed in a legal way giving both a discription 
of it and the title to its possession to all those who comply with 
certain plain and easy terms, has been placed in our hands. And 
though we have never seen the heavenly country ; yet, what is there 
to hinder our being as certain that we shall finally inherit it, as 
though our eyes had scanned its whole territory, or our souls were 
even now rejoicing in its full fruition ? I can see none. 

3d. The steps of conversion and sanctification are moreover so 
clearly and distinctly marked out, as to leave no room for us to 
doubt for a momeot whether w^e have made those advances or not. 



174 



LECTURE XV. — CHAPTER VI. 9 — 12. 



The Lord has so arranged it that every stage of the woiic of the 
Spirit stands out in our experience in unnfiistakeable prominence. — 
His first operation is to convince of sin ; i. e. to make us see that 
we are sinners. He neither creates nor reveals anything new, but 
simply makes us feel what was previously known. The prodigal 
son kiiew that he was sinning against a kind, fond and forgiving 
father, and criminally squandering what had been graciously given 
him ; but the Spirit brought these things home to his heart — it made 
him feel them— and induced in him the determination to return in 
humble confession of his wickedness. And may we not know with 
a very great degree of certainty whether we have had such con- 
victions, and been made to feel that we are guilty before God ! — 
There may be a spurious sorrow for sin with which the Spirit has 
nothing to do. Judas furnishes an example of this. But it may be 
easily detected. That of the prodigal melted, but that of Judas 
hardened — the former felt his vileness, but the latter only his 
wretchedness — the one fled to the mercy-seat for forgiveness, the 
other to the halter for deliverance — the one leads to Christ though 
denial and death be the consequence, but the other drives away from 
him. And can we not tell the bearing of our experience on this 
subject ? 

And so also with the next step, called conviction of righteousness. 
That is, our utter destitution and need of it. There is an empty- 
tiess of soul which makes the righteousness of Christ as acceptable, 
as the sight of a physician to a sick man. The sinner under this 
influence of the Spirit goes to the Savior as the Syrophenician wo- 
man, not to be denied, and yet feeling that the place of dogs more 
becomes him. And this feeling is constant and habitual with him 
through the whole course of christian life. And can there possibly 
be any insuperable difficulty in deciding whether this is our feeling.'^ 

4th. It seems io me too a very unjust reflection upon the com- 
pleteness of the work of our salvation to suppose such a state of 
full assurance" to be beyond our reach in the present life. We 
are taught to look upon redemption as a perfect work. The Savior 
provided is a perfect Savior. The Spirit to sanctify us is perfect. 
The book of God is perfect. All the means of grace are so com- 
plete, that the man who shall add to, or diminish them shall sink un- 
der the curse of God. Moses and the prophets have spoken plainer 
than one rising from the dead. The converted sinner is made a 



LECTURE XV. — CHAPTER VI. 9 — 12. 



175 



new creature in Christ Jesus. All things become new to him. His 
views, of himself — of God — of Christ — of the word, his feeling-s — 
tastes — desires — objects of life — all are new. As he advances his 
christian character becomes more vigorous and decided ; and the 
liglU in his path grows brighter and brighter. The whole plan is 
complete, and the sinner redeemed, goes from strength to strength, 
till the angel lifts the latch, and opens the door, and he passes into 
the mansions of glory. But is there not a very marked imperfec- 
tion if the saint may not be, and is not, if faithful to himself, advanc- 
ing in the " assurance of hope" until the certainty of his salvation 
becomes so strong as to banish every fearful doubt? 

From these considerations 1 am constrained to insist, that it is in- 
tended by the great Author of our religion that we shall arrive in 
this life to such a state of christian perfection as to be as certain 
that we shall be saved as if w^e were already saved. Of course 
the certainty of our salvation is realized on earth by an entirely 
different process from that by which it is realized in heaven. Here 
we are brought to this state by looking at the completeness of what 
Christ has done for us, and the immutability of the Divine promises, 
associated with certain experimental facts ; but there we will be 
brought to it by hearing, seeing, and feeling that we are saved. 
Our evidence here may be strong and certain ; but it is hope— it is 
faith. In heaven it is sight. 

Nor is it necessary to the enjoyment of this " full assurance of 
hope" that it be always glowing with the same degree of strength, 
or continue without interruption. On the contrary, the fluctuations 
to which we are here exposed, and the moaning of the Bible saints 
lead us to believe that cloudy skies will sometimes come. Nor do 
I say that some may not be christians, who, like the sweet Cowper, 
are all their lives distressed with fears and doubts and darkness ; 
but I do suppose that this ought not to be. It is the christian's 
blessed privilege to find in Christ, a complete Redeemer, who can 
and will now deliver us from our fears. And if we do not at times 
at least rise to such a full assurance as that all our doubts are gone, 
I feel it my duty to say, it is our own fault. In the days of Owen 
and Baxter, this doctrine was preached to the church with great 
power and success. The churches almost universally had the faith 
of assurance.^ Of late the privilege and necessity has been so lit- 

'See remarks by Dr. Todd in Vol. I. of "Christian World." 



176 



LECTURE XV. — CHAPTER VI. 9 12. 



t]e insisted on, that it has almost become part of our creed that the 
christian must be harassed and distressed with doubts all his life. 
The great reason assigned is, that it has been abused. But have 
not all the doctrines of the Bible been counterfeited and abused ? — 
But this does not do away the necessity of still preaching them and 
insisting on them. Nor does the fact that some with more zeal than 
religion or knowledge of themselves have declared themselves sanc- 
tified — free from all sin — and sure of heaven, do anything to sup- 
ercede or nullify the doctrine under discussion. I believe that it is 
within the reach — the privilege — the duty of all to be certain of 
their salvation; and that we are coming far short of .what we might 
and should be, if this is not our state. 

Probably there are few or none present who have the full assur- 
ance of hope on Scriptural grounds. But, my brethren, it is our 
sins and nothing else which separate between us and God. We 
load ourselves with thick clay, and then conclude that Jehovah 
never designed that we should rise. We grieve the Holy Spirit, 
and then think we were never called into the liberty of the sons of 
God. I do then most sincerely wish and beseech all now present, 
to resolve in the strength of God so to live — so to conform to his 
will, that you may have no more doubt of your good estate than 
had Paul when he stood ready to be offered, and went to the grave 
shouting " victory." 

What I have yet to say upon this subject relates to the practical 
question, liow may this exalted christian excellence be attained? — 
And we desire," says the apostle in the text, " that every one of 
you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto 
the end : that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through 
faith and patience inherit the promises." 

Three particulars are here enumerated for our observance. The 
first is persevering diligence; i. e. a continual striving and careful 
attention upon all the means of grace. Aye, no wonder then that 
so many are always troubled with doubts and fears, when we look 
at the lethargy which prevails in the churches. No marvel then 
that some never rise to the full assurance of hope. Would to God 
that they felt much more disturbed and apprehensive than they do ! 
If you wish to have this blessed consolation you must diligently 
exert yourselves for it. Not only drag along in the wearisome form 
of duty, but with a lively and earnest spirit enter into the reality 
and power of your religion. 



LECTURE XV. — CHAPTER VI. 9 — 12. 



177 



2nd. Nor are you only to avoid slothfulness. You must follow 
the example of the ancient saints in the exercise of '^/aif/i." You 
must learn to repose the most unbounded confidence in the suffici- 
ency of what Christ has done to save you, and to trust him without 
any reserve with the saving of your soul. Let your hearts reason 
thus: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that w^hosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have 
everlasting life. I believe in him; I trust in him; I venture my 
whole interest upon him; therefore, I shall be saved. Why need 
I any longer doubt ? Why need I any longer fear ? I believe in 
Jesus and I shall be saved. His word cannot fail. Yes, surely I 
shall be saved." Nor is there any necessity for the faith of any 
one to be so weak as not to be able to apply this all to your own 
case ; and thus rejoice in " the full assurance of hope." 

3d. And finally, like the ancient saints you must have "patience." 
Though your success and enjoyment in spiritual things may not be 
of that kind, or to that high degree which you may expect or de- 
sire, learn to be content and grateful that it is your privilege at all 
to venture upon Jesus. Though in this life the grief of your ex- 
ternal circumstances may even counterbalance the joy of your most 
exalted piety ; yet live in the patient expectation of that blest and 
flowery land, " where the wicked cease from troubling, and the 
weary are at rest." And whilst you are satisfied with the meanest 
place in the kingdom of God, still make it your constant aim and 
aspiration to reach the very highest standard of christian excellence 
and enjoyment. 

And may the Lord whom we profess to serve enlighten our minds, 
inflame our zeal, increase our faith, and confirm our hopes; and to 
his great name shall be all the praise for ever and ever. Amen= 



LECTURE XYI. 



THE IMMUTABILITY OF THE DIVINE PUUPOSE. 

Heb. vi. 13 — 20. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear 
by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and 
multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he ob- 
tained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater : and an oath for con- 
firmation is to them an end of all strife, Wlierein God, willing "more abundantly 
to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by 
an oath : That by two immutable things, in which it icas impossible for God to lie, 
we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the 
hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and 
steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil ; ^Vhither the forerunner is 
for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest for ever after the order of Melchis- 
edec. 

By referring to the preceding verses you will find, that the apos- 
tle had just expressed the desire, and modestly enjoined upon his 
readers, that they should be diligent, persevering, believing, and 
patient in hope. In the text he presents a few other considerations, 
which if properly entertained, must infallibly promote them in these 
very graces. The most prominent particular, and the one to which 
I will here call your attention, is, that God has unchangeahly pur- 
posed to save all men who receive the religion of Jesus Christy and 
faithfully follow him to the end of this life. 

Whether this purpose was formed in reference only to certain 
individuals, and that irrespective of any foreseen compliance, on 
their part with Gospel terms, has not been clearly revealed in the 
Scriptures, nor is it important that it should be. The devotion of 
men to the dogmatical sayings of party leaders on this point, instead 
of an humble confinement of their articles of belief, to what is plain- 
ly laid down in the Bible, has filled the cliristian world with much 
unpleasant and hurtful controversy. It would certainly remove the 
occasion of many an angry feeling, and much error in theology, if 
if we would all learn to look upon this question as among the se- 
cret things of God, and with which we have nothing at present to do. 
I am persuaded that it is enough for all the purposes of our proba- 
tion, and enough to satisfy any devout heart whilst we but " see 
through a glass darkly" to know, that it is the immutable counsel 
of God, if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to save us with an 



LECTURE XVI. — CHAPTER VI. 13 20. 



179 



everlasting salvation. And by way of assurance that such is his 
purpose, we have the sacredness of his promise, and the solemnity of 
his oath. 

A promise when made by a competent individual, is an inviola- 
ble engagement to perform certain things. It is a matter to which 
all our conceptions and feelings of honor and justice combine in as- 
signing a peculiar sacredness. We look upon a promise as an un- 
reserved commitment of all a man is and has in iavor of the fulfill- 
ment of what he promises. When it is made by the Almighty, we 
are to understand it as an engagement of all the perfections of his 
nature for the performance of the thing mentioned. It is to be ra- 
ted as unfailins: as he is imm.utable. 

We have then in the first place all the assurance and force of 
the Divine promise, that we shall be saved if we believe. This is 
the great burden of God's gracious declarations to the world in 
whatever form, or on whatever occasion they were made. To 
Abraham he promised to be a God and to his seed after him, and 
to give unto him and his spiritual children an everlasting posses- 
sion. In the time of Ezekiel he declared, " when I say unto the 
wicked, Thou shalt surely die ; if he turn from his sin, and do that 
which is lawful and right, restore the pledge, give again that he 
hath stolen, and walk in the statutes of life without committing in- 
iquity ; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins 
that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him : he hath done 
that which is lawful and right ; he shall surely live.'"' Christ Je- 
sus, who was " God manifest in the flesh," in the days of his incar- 
nation gave utterance to the gracious words, " He that believeth in 
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth 
and believeth in me shall never die." And after he had fulfilled 
the purpose of his visit to our world and was about to take his de- 
parture, among his last precious v^^ords were these: " iJe that be- 
lieveth arid is baptized shall be saved?'' These " exceeding great 
and precious promises" relative to the salvation of believers are 
scattered all over tlie sacred pages in abundance as to their num- 
ber, clear as to their expression, and furnishing to the world the 
joyful assurance, that it is the immutable purpose of God to redeem 
and glorify the repenting sinner. 

But in the next place, " God, willing more abundantly to show 
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed 



180 



LECTURE XVI. — CHAPTER VI. 13—20. 



it with an oath." An oath is the solemn confirmation of a state- 
ment by an appeal to a higher object. It differs from a promise 
in this, that whilst a promise only pledges the honor and interest of 
the individual making it, an oath pledges the qualities of something 
higher and more worthy of consideration. The force of an oath is 
to be estimated according to the character of the object to which it 
appeals. If it be taken by anything finite, and that thing fails, the 
obligation of course passes away with that failure, at least so far 
as the oath made it. Hence says Paul, "men verily swear by the 
greater." In all our civil and ecclesiastical regulations of this mat- 
ter, the appeal is always m.ade to the eternal and omniscient God. 
And a statement thus attested is the most conclusive recognized by 
our laws, or of which we can form any conception. It is the " end 
of all strife." Jehovah it is true, had no one superior to himself to 
whom to appeal in attestation of his purpose. But an appeal to his 
own existence and veracity is a matter so solemn as forever to make 
his promise sure. Some of the Rabbins represent Moses as ad- 
dressing the Deity thus: "Lord of all the world, if thou hadst 
sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the heavens and the earth, 
then I should have said. As the heavens and the earth shall pass 
away, so may thy oath pass away. But now thou has sworn unto 
them by Thy great Name, which liveth, and endureth for ever, 
and for ever and ever : therefore thy oath shall endure for ever, 
and for ever and ever." " Because he could sw^ear by no greater, 
he sware by himself;" he appealed to the immutable perfections of 
his own nature, and to the eternity of his own existence, and thus 
confirmed unto us the immutability of his purpose to save those 
who keep his covenant. 

These then are the " two immutable things in which it was im- 
possible for God to lie." They furnish a double pledge of all 
that God is and has for the fulfillment of his part in the work of 
our salvation. He has been so good and condescending as to pre- 
sent himself to the believer in a light in which he cannot but be 
faithful in the performance of his promise. He is omniscient, and 
hence cannot forget it. He is omnipotent ; there is no authority or 
power in the universe which he does not control. There can then 
be no question of his ability to perform it. He is true, heaven and 
earth shall rather pass away than one jot or tittle of his word re- 
main unfulfilled. He is good and cannot therefore trifle with the 



LECTURE XVI. — CHAPTER VI. 13 20. 



181 



everlasting interests of his creatures. He is eternal, and his prom- 
ise can no more fail than his being- itself can cease. His purpose 
is altogether sure and immutable. 

Time may intervene before its accomplishment, and a great 
length of time. In fact, the very nature of a promise implies futu- 
rity as to the performance of the thing promised. Were there no 
intervention of time between its utterance and its fulfillment, it 
would be the simple execution of an action without any promise in 
the case. And though time may elapse, and hundreds of centuries 
pass away without bringing the performance of the contract ; it 
does not in the least relieve the obligation assumed, or affect the 
certainty of its fulfillment. Many ages passed after the first prom- 
ise of a Messiah was made in the garden of Eden, and hundreds and 
thousands of patriarchal worthies looked anxiously and prayed fer- 
vently for his coming. Yet he came not until 4000 years with all 
their new developments and changes had gone, and then all was 
fulfilled .^o the very letter. Time works no changes on the Deity. 
His plans and his purposes are always the same. He sa^v the end 
of all things from the beginning, nor can time bring to light any 
emergencies for which a full and exact calculation has not been 
made. No outbreaking malice of hell — no subtle machinations of 
the great arch adversary— no sudden changes in the character or 
movements of earthly dominion can surprise him, or cause the least 
modification in his doings. The policy of God is a unit, and it ap- 
plies to all places and all time. There is not a fact in the history 
of a past eternity, and there is not an occurrence which will take 
place in the eternity to come, which is not taken into the account 
of its framework. No interventions of time can work the least al- 
teration in it. Every new development seems rather to accommo- 
date itself to God, than to demand a new exercise of his wisdom to 
meet it. And hence no matter though millions of ages pass away 
before we find our redemption completed, if we believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ we shall still be saved. 

All the probabilities, nay to human eyes all the possibilities of 
the case may lie against Jehovah's arm and interpose to defeat his 
purpose ; and yet it shall be accomplished. His plans are too deep 
to be defeated by created sagacity, and his arm is too mighty to be 
cramped by external circumstances. It is his usual policy to suf- 
fer things to go on to such a crisis as to induce men to despair, but 



182 



LECTURE XVI. CHAPTER VI. 13 — 20. 



only that liis interposition and power may be the more strikingly 
manifest. And though error and evil may flourish for a time, and 
to an extent which seems to betoken their final triumph and the ut- 
ter discomfiture of the righteous ; yet the period will arrive when 
Jehovah shall appear in behalf of his saints, trample their enemies 
under his feet, and put into their lips the joyful shout, " Alleluia, 
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." When the promise of a 
son in whom the nations of the earth should be blessed was made 
to Abraham, he laughed in consequence of the apparent impossi- 
bility which lay in the way of its fulfillment, and Sarah shouted 
with incredulity in the angelic message that a woman of ninety 
years should bear a son. Yet in due time did the sacred announce- 
ment came to pass. Human impossibilities are no barriers to Je- 
hovah, When the flood was sent upon an ungodly world, and ev- 
ery iiill and mountain was hid beneath the waves, he found a plan 
for the deliverance of them that feared and obeyed him. When 
wickedness was to be reproved, it was not too much that the dead 
should be raised— the ferocity of lions rendered docile — the seven- 
fold heat of the furnace rendered powerless — and the very brutes 
to speak with a human voice. When the Gospel of the kingdom 
was to be proclaimed, unlettered fishermen were easily made to 
speak with divers tongues, and the daring temper of a persecuting 
Saul kindled up with devotion and love. Nor is there a miracle 
too great for the Deity in order that his purpose concerning be- 
lievers may stand. And if it be necessary for our final deliverance 
and glory that the Son of man return again to the earth, to cleanse 
it by the fierce revelations of his wrath upon the wicked, and to 
restore the departed sceptre of David ; he ivill come rather than 
suff'er his promise to fail. For "he that spared not his own Son, 
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freel}^ 
give us all things.^" " If when we were enemies, we were recon- 
ciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being rec- 
onciled shall we be saved by his life ?" 

Great changes in the fashion of this world may take place, and 
the whole present constitution of things may be dissolved. But 
God still shall be faithful to his people. The Scriptures teach us 
to look for great convulsions and elemental conflicts. Peter tells 
us that the day of the Lord will come, " in the which the heavens 
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with 



LECTURE XVI. — CHAPTER VI. 13 — 20. 



183 



fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein . shall he 
burned up." John in prophetic vision says, " And I beheld when 
he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake ; 
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon be- 
came as blood : a!id the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as 
a fig-free casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty 
wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled to- 
gether ; and every mountain and island were moved out of their 
places." And whether we understand these things of the political 
and ecclesiastical establishments of time, or of the material and 
physical arrangements of our present system, we have presented 
to our view such fearful commotions as must bring about an entire- 
ly new state of tilings. But even independently of this prophetic 
account, nature has plainly written upon her face, " the fashion of 
this world passeth away." Fler strongest elements and firmest ma- 
terials are rapidly yielding to the power of decay. Yonder tow- 
ering mountains around whose daring- summits the lightning's play 
their dances, propped as they are by the rocky battlements which 
surround them, are wasting away in dust which the w^nds scatter 
over the plains and in sediment which the waters carry into the 
sea. Rivers and streams are yearly changing their channels. The 
world every century exchanges its inhabitants, and every return of 
spring and summer must replace its withered herbage and its faded 
beauty. " All the things that are seen are temporal." But with all 
the mutations of time — all the dread commotions in civil govern- 
ments and church hierarchies — and the full manifestation of all that 
poets have dreamed of elemental conflicts, the wreck of matter 
and the crush of worlds ;" the purpose of Jehovah shall not be al- 
tered, and still the believing sinner shall be saved. 

" Let this earth dissolve, and blend in death the wicked and the just — 

Ijet those ponderous orbs descend and grind us into dust :— 

Rests secure the righteous man at his Redeemer's beck, 

Sure to emerge and rise again, and mount above the wreck. 

For lo, the heavenly spirit towers like flames o'er nature's funeral pyre, 

Triumphs in immortal powers, and claps her wings of fire. 

Nothing hath the just to lose by worlds on woilds destroyed ; 

Far beneath his feet he views with smiles the flaming void — 

Sees the universe renewed — the grand millenial reign begun, 

Shouts with all the sons of God around the eternal throne." 



184 



LECTURE XVI. CHAPTER VI. 13—20. 



And certainly, my brethren, this is a matter in reference to whicti 
we cannot be indifferent. The most prolific source of our sorrow 
in this world, is the utter uncertainty of every thing by which we 
are here surrounded. There is nothing- earthly within our reach upon 
which we can confidently rely. All is mutable ; and we ourselves 
are exposed to quick transitions from security to danger — from jo}^- 
fulness to tears. The man who is our friend to-day may be our 
enemy to-morrow. The props which now sustain us may in a few 
moments be swept away. Riches are no sure defense, and even 
could they be of any signal service, they often make to themselves 
wings and depart. Relatives ma}^ be kind to us, and disposed to 
help us and cling to us ; but death may snatch them away m a mo- 
ment and hide them in the tomb. Our plans and calculations may 
be well made, and seem to insure success ; but unforeseen occur- 
rences may blast them all. The sun of promise may shine clear 
and glorious in the mcrning, but noon may find it hid behind the 
clouds. Our cheeks may now be blooming with the roseate hues 
of health, a few days may find them sunken and paled by the hand 
of disease. Honor — wealth — friends — and every earthly comfort 
may readily fail us. And is it not a source of " strong consola- 
tion," that amid all our failures, if we are faithful to God we shall 
not and cannot fail of salvation ! Like an anchor to the ship upon 
the stormy sea, so is the immutability of the Divine purpose to the 
believers soul. Though the sky of earthly prospect be dark and 
hopeless — the tempests of adversity pour their rage — and the troub- 
led waters threaten every instant to engulf it in the deep ; yet 
whilst hope, heaven-begotten hope clings to this unfailing rock, the 
christian voyager exuHs amid the gale. And though infidels and 
sensualists are wrecking upon the shoals and sinking beneath the 
waves all around him, he looks calmly on in full assurance that he 
shall yet outride the storm and reach at last the haven of everlast- 
ing peace. 

What encouragement should this surety of the Divine purpose 
afford us for diligent and energetic effort to make our " calling and 
election sure." Nothing so much damps the ardor of enterprise as 
uncertainty of success. But there is no room here for doubt. There 
can be no failure if we are faithful. "For I am persuaded, that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
nor tilings present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor 



LECTURE XVI. — CHAPTER \I. 13 20. 



185 



sny other creature, shall be able" to rob us of our reward, if we 
but labor for it in the proper way. Our prayers and tears and 
works shall not be lost. How encouraging then to go on in patient 
endurance of hardships and diligent striving for the crown. Fel- 
low soldiers of the cross, with the certain prospect of eternal vic- 
tory before us, why shall we cease to fight.? With the palnns and 
crowns held up in our view, why not take to ourselves the whole 
armour of God and press on for the glorious prize ? The more fa- 
tigue and privation we endure in the march, the more exalted shall 
be the glory of our triumph. Jehovah cannot disappoint us. His 
promise cannot fail us. If we fight we shall reign. Why not then 
summon up our sinking energy and rally for the work f ■ Why not 
press on with renewed vigor to the contest .? Rouse yourselves 
then, and begin to act as those who really expect to be saved. 
Up, up ! and nerve yourselves for duty, and with your eyes fixed 
upon yonder heaven, shrink not from any opposition. The banner 
of Jehovah's protection shall be over you. The broad shield of 
the Omnipotent shall defend you. For he hath sworn and will not 
repent, that if faithful, you shall have the kingdom. 

Nor has the Savior left us in ignorance as to the precise steps to 
be taken in order to secure our salvation. Like a faithful leader of 
bis people, he has given us specific and full directions. The lan- 
guage of his inspired apostle is, " God, willing more abundantly to 
show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, con- 
firmed it with an oath ; that by two immutable things, in which it 
was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, 
who have Jled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us?"^ 
Here then is the great condition upon which our christian consola- 
tion on earth, and our final salvation in glory depend. We must 
" flee for refuge to the hope set before us." This describes a pe- 
culiar state of mind, and a peculiar course of conduct springing out 
of it. 

There is an obvious allusion in the text to the cities of refuge 
provided by Moses for the safety of such as might accidentally 
cause the death of a neisrhbor in case the friends of the deceased 

o 

were to pursue him for vengeance. In such an instance there must 
necessarily be a conviction of danger. The man must have been 
conv"nced that his life was in jeopardy, before he would resort to 
measures for security. And so in our case. We must be brought 
13 



186 



LECTURE XVI. — CHAPTER VI. 13 — 20. 



to a sense of our sinfulness and consequent exposure to Divine 
wrath. We must feel our guilt in having broken the good and ho- 
ly laws of Deity, and that we are in every moment of impenitence 
subject to be consumed. Such is really our condition by nature. 
We are continually hovering between earth and hell upon the fee- 
ble and failing wing of life. Any moment we may drop into the 
fiery vortex. The state of mind described in the text, is that of 
having our eyes opened to the dangers which threaten our ruin. — 
And in order to bring ourselves to this, it is only necessary for u& 
to compare ourselves with the Divine law, and our conduct with 
its holy requirements, and we shall know at once our true con- 
dition. 

But it was necessary for the manslayer under the Mosaic ar- 
rangement, not only to have a conviction of danger, but also to 
have some confidence as to his safety after he should have made 
his way into the city of refuge. So must we also have faith in Je- 
sus Christ the great hope set before us, and in his willingness and 
power to save us if we flee to him. Without this we would never 
come to him, and never flee to him for refuge from the punishment 
threatening our sins. And to bring about this confidence in our 
hearts, the doctrine of the immutability of his purpose to save be- 
lievers comes into play. We must look at the character of God — 
his promises — the instances in which he has saved others, and we 
certainly cannot doubt. We have his purpose assured unto us by 
two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie. 

If then we are sensible of our exposed condition by nature, and 
believe that we can find refuge in Jesus, we are ready for the ac- 
tion of fleeing to him. And it is important to bear in mind that 
there is action required in this case. Our sins must be renounced. 
Whether they be sins of thought, or passion, or language, or of de- 
portment, they must all be abandoned. We must resist the influ- 
ences of the carnal mind, and " crucify the flesh with the lusts 
thereof" We must sacrifice our worldly feelings, and give a 
heavenly direction to our aflections. There are practical duties to 
be performed. The regular means of grace must be attended to. 
W e must pray ; we must read and study the Bible ; we must at- 
tend the ministrations of the sanctuary ; and we must every where 
and always, seek to exemplify the teachings of the Savior. And by 
giving all diligence we must add to our faith, virtue ; and to vir- 



LECTURE XVI. — CHAPTER VI. 13 — 20. 



187 



tue, knowledge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to temper- 
ance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, broth- 
erly kindness ; and to brotherly-kindness, charity. And thus we 
will make our calling and election so sure that we shall never fall, 
and finally have an entrance administered unto us abundantly into 
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

You perceive then that the whole responsibility of your salvation 
is thrown into your own hands. Not indeed in the sense of merit- 
ing it, nor in the sense of accomplishing it by your own endeavors. 
For " it is Christ that died," and it is the " Spirit that worketh in 
you, both to will and to do of his own good pleasure." If it were 
not so, your condition of all creatures would be most miserable. 
But what I mean is, that your effectual calling has some depend- 
ence upon your conduct. Not that your salvation is of works ; by 
no means. Infinite wisdom and goodness have set heaven and ev- 
erlasting life before you. They have instituted a plan through 
which your salvation is made immutably certain, provided you em- 
brace it by faith. And the same authority which exacts faith of 
you, confers the ability wherewith to comply. So that if you are 
saved, it will be all of grace ; but at the same time if you are lost, 
it will be your own fault. The responsibility is with you. The 
God who might have justly passed you by in your fall, and left you 
to reap the fruit of your sins on the desert plains of hell, has gra- 
ciously provided for your rescue, given into your hands again the 
reins of your destiny, and the most conclusively assured you of his 
immutable purpose to. save you if obedient. What then will you 
do ^ The responsibility rests with you. God has placed it with 
you. His beloved Son has said, " He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall he saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." — 
May Almighty God influence you to submit to his grace, that he 
inay save you according to his immutable purpose ! 



LECTURE XVII. 



THE SUPERIORITY OF MESSIAH's PRIESTHOOD. 

Heb. vii. 1 — 19. For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, 
who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him ; to 
whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all ; first being by inteipretation King 
of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 
without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, 
nor end of life ; but made like unto the Son of God ; abideth a piiest continually. 
Now consider how great this man loas, unto whom even the patriarch jAbrahani 
gave the tenth of the spoils. And veiily they that are of the sons of Levi, who 
receive the office of the priesthood, have a conjmandment to take tithes ol the peo- 
ple according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the 
loins of Abraham. But he whose det^cent is not counted from them received tithes 
of Abraham, and blessed him that had the piomises. And without all coniradic- 
tion the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes ; but 
there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as 1 may so 
say, Levi also, who receiveth tithe.si, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in 
the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. If therefore perfection were 
by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what fur- 
ther need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, 
and not be called after the order of Aaron .'' For the priesthood being changed, 
there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things 
are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the al- 
tar. For iHs evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah ; of which tribe Moses 
spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident : for that af- 
ter the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, who is made, not af- 
ter the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For 
he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. For there 
is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and 
unprofitableness thereof For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in 
of a better hope did ; by the which we draw nigh unto God. 

The apostle here resumes the suhject from which he so abruptly 
broke off in the 10th verse of the 5th chapter. Having reproved 
his readers for the little progress vf hich they had made in christian 
knoW'ledge, v^^arned them against ihe fearful consequences of aban- 
doning the christian religion, and encouraged them to hold fast their 
faith and hope unto the end, he now found the way open to present 
the " many things" lie had to say concerning the priesthood of Mel- 
chisedec. The precise point to be improved, was the superior na- 
ture of Messiah's priesthood. The first consideration from which 
he shows its. superiority, is its peculiar order, or rank. This he 
had already several times alluded to, as being the same as that of 
Melchisedec. The priesthood of Melchisedec then, its superiority 



LECTURE XVII. CHAPTER VII. 1 19. 



189 



over that of Aaron, and its typical relatioa to Christ, shall consti- 
tute the subject of our present inquiry. 

In order to render this discussion satisfactory, it will be neces- 
sary for us first to determine who Melchisedec was. Upon this 
point, as upon others respecting this personage, commentators have 
entertained the most extravagant speculations. And it may add 
considerable force to the conclusions to which our present investi- 
gations may lead, to expose the absurdity of those embarrassing 
notions which have heretofore been circulated under the authority 
of great names. 

It has been contended by some, that Melchisedec was an angel ; 
and a certain sect sprang up in the third century, who affirmed that 
he was the mediator of fallen angels. Such however, cannot be 
the fact, as may be inferred from several considerations. There is 
not an instance in all the Scriptures in w^hich the priestly office is 
ascribed to an angel; nor is there the slightest intimation that fallen 
angels have any hope of being saved. We are moreover taught 
that " every high priest is taken from among men." 

Some have thought him to be the Holy Ghost. But neither have 
we an instance on record in which the Holy Ghost was ever repre- 
sented as a priest. On the contrary the Scriptures refer to his of- 
fice in the economy of redemption as looking toward men whom he 
sanctifies, but to that of a priest as looking toward God to whom 
atonement and intercession are made. Priests are ordained to offer 
gifts and sacrifices; but we are not advised that the Floly Ghost 
has any ofiering to bring. And it is utterly intolerable to suppose, 
that an inspired apostle would gravely set about telling us that the 
Holy Ghost is " without father, without mother," &c. 

Nor could he have been, as others have confidently asserted, the 
Son of God himself, who assuming the appearance of humanity 
presented himself in a vision to Abraham as an early type of his 
future priesthood. If Melchisedec was a priest, as the account 
asserts that he was, the mere appearance of humanity was not 
enough. Paul also declares that he w^as " like unto the Son of 
God," this plainly involves the fact that he was not the same. If 
he really w^as the Son of God, we must then understand the inspired 
record to say that he was a type of himself, and that his own priest- 
hood was like his own priesthood! in which case the ideas of iden- 
tity and similarity w^ould be totally confounded. We are then 



190 LECTURE XVII. CHAPTER VII. 1 19. 

driven to the conclusion, that Melchisedec was neither an angel — 
the Holy Ghost— or the Son of God, and could have been none 
other than a man. And that he was a verita.ble man, positive cir- 
cumstances noted in the account go on farther to establish. The 
historical details are just as strongly discriptive of humanity as those 
which determine our belief that Abraham and the king of Sodom 
were men. His priestly office, his royal authority, and his recep- 
tion of tithes from Abraham can only be predicated of humanity. 
And the extraordinary terms in which he is spoken of instead of 
being irreconcilable with the supposition that he was a man, I ex- 
pect to be ahle to show go on to confirm it. For how indeed could 
priest Messiah in his human nature be consistently represented by 
any other than a human being? Nor was he ever a priest in any 
other nature. The conclusion then is not to be resisted, — Melchi- 
sedec was a man. As to what particular man he was — whether 
Enoch — Shem — Ham — Japhet — Job — or who ^ has not been pre- 
served on record. Nor can we conceive it to be of any conse- 
quence that we should know. Enough has been preserved for every 
practical purpose, and beyond this we have no license for the in- 
dulgence of our curiosity in sacred things. 

The next thing to be inquired into respects the particulars from 
which the apostle shows Melchisedec to be a priest of an entirely 
different order from the Levitical priests. This difference is seen 
1st, in the fact that his priesthood had united to it the kingly dig- 
nity. " For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most 
high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the 
kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of 
all ; first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after 
that also king of Salem, which is. King of peace," The transla- 
tion of these titles by the apostle, is rather a by the way matter. 
He merely incidentally refers to their signification as worthy of re- 
mark, that they are also fitly typical of the character of Jesus our 
high Priest, and of the condition of those brought under his royal 
authority. It was enough for his purpose to show that the patri- 
arch of whom he is speaking was a king as well as a priest. This 
is indicated by the titles by which he was called. The one is 
Melcliisedec, which in Hebrew signifies— ?/ie righteotis king ; and 
another, only part of which he introduces, which signifies — King of 
peace. Both of these designate royalty, and hence the kingly char- 



LECTURE XVII. — CHAPTER VII. 1 19. 



191 



acter of his priesthood. This was a dignity which never belonged 
to Aaron's order. Some of them were prophets, but none of them 
were kings. Some of them were eminently typical of Messiah in 
many respects ; but their priesthood lacked this kingly feature, and 
must therefore be regarded as a different order from that of Mel- 
chisedec, 

2nd. This difference is further manifested in this, his genealogy 
was not reckoned either from them, or like them. This is w^hat is 
meant by the declarations without father, without mother, with- 
out descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life." — 
These extraordinary terms surely were not intended to mean that 
he had not a genealogy known to his contemporaries, or that he 
was not born and did not die as other men. The point to be proven, 
and one indeed essential to the argument, is that Melchisedec's 
priesthood was of a different order from the Levitical. It is then 
very apposite to his purpose to show that his " genealogy is not 
counted from them and this is very effectually done in these 
words. It was a law concerning the Jewish priesthood, and one 
in fact observed by the entire nation, for each family to prepare 
carefully and correctly a full register of all its names, births, and 
deaths. These records were all officially preserved in the archives 
of the nation for subsequent reference. In order to make good the 
claims of an individual to succeed to the priestly office, it was 
necessary that he be able to show from these genealogical records 
that he was of the tribe of Levi, that his father was a priest, that 
his mother was such a woman as the law required for a priest's 
wife, (Ezra ii. 61 — 63; Lev. xxi. 13 — 15,) to show the date of his 
birth or "beginning of days," (Num. iv. 1 — 3,) and probably also 
the death of the preceding priest in order to preserve regularity in 
filling vacancies. Paul then denies, as the Jews themselv^es must 
also have known, that Melchisedec had any official " descent" or 
genealogy of this kind. Were we to seek over all the genealogical 
registers of the priesthood, we would not find his name, for he is 
^'without" priestly "descent;" nor his father's name, for he is 
"without father;" ftor his mother's name, for he is "without 
mother;" nor the entry of his birth or his death, for he does not 
belong to any order whose genealogy is thus recorded ; and his 
priesthood is therefore altogether of a different rank. 



192 



LECTUllE XVII.^CHAPTER VII. 1 19. 



3d. Another fact showing the different and distinct order of Mei- 
chisedec's priesthood is, that it remained exclusively in his own 
hands during his whole lifetime, and through the w^hole dispensa- 
tion which he represented. This is stated in these words — " but 
made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually," and 
is subsequently referred to, in verses 8 and 16. Under the Mosaic 
arrangement there was a continual succession of priests. Thus 
when Aaron died, Eleazar his son stood up in his room ; and all the 
high priests of the Levitical order were succeeded by their sons 
and their relations. But there was no such official transmission in 
the priesthood of Melchisedec froai one to another.. He w^as the 
first, the last, and the only priest of his dispensation. His was a 
continual and intransmissible priesthood, and hence one entirely dif- 
ferent and distinct from that of Aaron. 

Having thus conclusively shown that the priesthood of Melchi- 
sedec was different from the Levitical, the apostle now comes to 
show that it was also superior to it. " Now consider," says he, 

how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham 
gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons 
of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a command- 
ment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is of 
their brethren, though they came out of the loins of Abraham : but 
he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abra- 
ham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all con- 
tradiction the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die 
receive tithes ; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is w^itness- 
ed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth 
tithes, payed tithes in Abraham ; for he was yet in the loins of his 
father, w^hen Melchisedec met him." 

The Jews w^ere accustomed to look upon Abraham as probably 
the greatest man that ever graced the earth. Paul in the text men- 
tions as an instance of his greatness, that some of his children were 
Divinely allowed the exalted authority to exact tribute for their 
continual support. He w^as great in favor and communion with 
God— he was great in the exercise of faith — he was great in the 
promises which were made to centre in him — and he was great as 
the father of the most distinguished nation that ever lived. There 
w^as not another whom they held in equal honor. To his greatness 
and piety they attributed all those w^onderful displays of Divine 



LECTURE XVII. — CHAPTER VII. 1 — 19. 



193 



power and wisdom made in their behalf; and many in the Savior's 
day made it the subject of their chief glory, that they were the 
" children of Abraham." He was the father of the faithful — the 
root of the true church— -and the progenitor of Messiah. But great 
as Abraham was in many respects, he was yet inferior to Melchi- 
sedec. I do not say that he was inferior in piety, or even in per- 
sonal dignity ; but inferior in consideration that Melchisedec was 
" priest of the most high God." There was an official superiority 
to Abraham. Hence he did not take of the spoils of war, or the 
usual portion of what he possessed, and offer it directly to God by 
his own hands. In the place of such an immediate consecration, he 
brought them to Melchisedec, the proper and authorized minister 
of rehgion, and by that act himself acknowledged the Divine ap- 
pointment and superior official standing of the patriarchal priest. 
In return, Abraham received from his hands also the Divine bless- 
ing, the pronunciation of which always implies superiority of age, 
rank, or station, on the part of him by whom it is uttered. For 
"without controversy" says Paul, "the less is blessed of the bet- 
ter." 

Now the apostle argues that this acknowledgment on the part of 
Abraham after he had received the promises of Melchisedec's su- 
perior dignity, implied also an acknowledgment of inferiority on 
the part of all the descendants of Abraham. There is a sense in 
which tlie actions of the patriarch on that occasion were the actions 
of all his posterity, and just as really implicated the Levitical priests 
as if they had been present and taken part in the entire transaction. 
Abraham in this instance was the seminal and covenant representa- 
tive of his race. Such a representation is considered perfectly 
adequate, and its acts conclusive and binding so long as there is no 
subsequent change in the relative rank of the parties. In this case 
we are not authorized to believe there was any such change; and 
hence the act of Abraham stood as if it were the act of all his pos- 
terity, and Levi who received tithes, paid tithes in Abraham to 
Melchisedec. " We may then conceive the apostle conveying the 
amount of his argument to his countrymen," says Dr. Gray, (to 
whom I here acknowledge my indebtedness for some valuable 
thoughts and arguments in this discussion,) "in words such as these: 
while from an overweening valuation of your priesthood, you are 
ready to reject the priesthood of Jesus, do you imagine that yours 



194 



LECTURE XVII. CHAPTER VII. 1 — 19. 



is the 07ily, or even the noblest priesthood that ever existed among 
men ? Look back to the origin of your nation, and there you will 
"find your father Abraham, after he had received the covenant which 
is the source and sum of all your national glory, paying tithes, to 
Melchisedec, a priest of the most high God, and receiving his bless- 
ing. And as he was at that time your covenant head and represen- 
tative, his acts are yours J and his inferiority your inferiority. And 
therefore to speak plainly, your whole nation, and among the rest 
the tribe of Levi vvho boast their priesthood, paid tithes in Abra- 
ham to Melchisedec his superior and theirs : and bowed farther to 
that superior man by receiving his blessing ; for without all contro- 
versy the less is blessed of the better." ^ 

Another consideration which the apostle adduces to show the in- 
feriority of the Aaronic priesthood, is the fact which he had already 
shown from the Hebrew Scriptures, that it w^as contemplated when 
God gave commandment concerning its institution, that it should be 
superceded by another order. " If therefore perfection were by 
the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law ;) 
what further need was there that another priest should rise after the 
order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron.?" 
He had conclusively shown by reference to the 110th Psalm, that 
it was predicted by God's own prophet that there would be another 
priest, one independent of the laws which regulated the house of 
Aaron, and who should be a continual priest after the order of 
Melchisedec. This was a point then too plain to admit of denial. 
Now since such was the accredited fact, the inference was inevit- 
able that the existing priesthood must have been imperfect, and in- 
tended merely to be temporary. There was no alternative from 
this conclusion. There must have been deficiency somewhere, of 
some sort, else there could have been no justification for its change 
and abolition by the appointment of another. What this particular 
defect and inferiority were, will be more satisfactorily shown here- 
after. But in the mean time we have the fact itself incontrovert- 
ibly established, that the Levitical order was imperfect, and that 
the introduction of another after the order of Melchisedec, was a 
plain proof that the patriarchal was the superior. 

We find then these two propositions very clearly brought out 
and established in the text. 1st. That the priesthood of Melchise- 

'See Gray's Priesthoods, page 106. 



LECTURE XVII. — CHAPTER VII. 1 19. 



195 



dec was of a different order altog-ether from the Levitical priest- 
hood ; and 2nd. That it was moreover far superior to the Levitical 
order. Taking these two propositions in connection with the fact 
which had already been made appear, viz : that Christ's priesthood 
was to be of the same order as the priesthood of Melchisedec, we 
have two very important conclusions. The first is that Christ is 
entitled to the priestly office, although he was not of the tribe of 
Levi. It is to this the apostle alludes when he says, " For the 
priestliood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also 
in the law. For he of whom these things are spoken peilaineth to 
another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For 
it is evident that our Lord SDran2: out of Judah : of which tribe 
Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood." This was no doubt 
in the Jewish mind a very serious objection to the right of Christ 
to exercise sacerdotal functions. But his priesthood being of a dif- 
ferent order, it cannot come under the laws peculiar to that order ; 
and hence the objection falls. 

The second conclusion from these propositions is, that Christ's 
priesthood is altogether superior to the Levitical priesthood. The 
argument on this point runs thus : Melchisedec's priesthood is su- 
perior to that of the Levites; Christ's priesthood is of the same 
order as that of Melchisedec ; therefore, Christ's priesthood is su- 
perior to that of the Levites. And what an overwhelming argu- 
ment was this for the Jews. With what tremendous force did it 
press upon them and yet presses upon them the claims of the Gos- 
pel of Jesus. He, the despised Nazarene, a priest superior in rank 
to those whom they venerated and loved so much? Aye, now let 
their prejudices rave, let their deep-seated hatred to the victim of 
Calvary stir itself with volcanic fury, let their ingenuity exert itself 
to the utmost, let the strongest bursts of their ov^er-wrought patriotism 
rise in opposition, the apostle here embattles the cause of Chris- 
tianity within an adamantine wall of argument thick and flaming 
high beyond all flight of hope. From this conclusion there is no 
appeal — no escape. And well may we shout to the sons of Israel, 
" Bow, bow ! to the cross, and own the bloodless w^arrior of Chris- 
tianity your conqueror! 

I have thus, my hearers, given you a brief but I trust suificiently 
distinct outline of the superiority of Messiah's priesthood as argued 
from its Melchisedecean order. I will now present you with the 



196 



LECTURE XVII. CHAPTER VII. 1 19. 



points of typical resemblance which the priesthood of Melchisedec 
bore to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Here again I will draw 
freely from Dr. Gray. 

1st. We have seen from the preceding discussion that Melchise- 
dec was a royal, or kingly priest. So is our Savior. It is an es- 
sential feature of his mediatorial character to rule and reign. The 
dispensation of which he is the head and administrator is called a 
kingdom — the kingdom of heaven — the kingdom of God. He is 
in sundry places called the King of Zion — the Prince of Peace — 
the Ruler over many nations. He was literally of "the house and 
lineage of David," Jehovah has assigned him authority over all 
things, and the prophecies direct us to a period not far distant, when 
he shall have " upon his vesture and on his thigh a name written, 
King of kings and Lord of lords.'^'' His is " a royal priesthood." 

2nd. We saw further that according to the name, Melclrisedec 
was also a righteous King-priest. The same may be said of Jesus 
Christ. There is not a single action of his life which bears a sus- 
picious aspect. There is not a shadow to cloud his spotless char- 
acter. Our high priest is " holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate 
from sinners " Though in all points tempted as we are, yet with- 
out sin." 

3d. We have also seen that Melchisedec was a king-priest in 
Salem, a city, the name of which signifies peace, and piobably so 
called on account of the peaceful condition of its inhabitants. 
Christ Jesus is a princely priest in the church of God — the New 
Jerusalem, which is altogether a peaceful communit}^ There is 
here peace of conscience, peace with God, and the prospect of 
everlasting peace in the kingdom of glory. 

4th. We have seen too that Melchisedec was a priest whose 
genealogy was not reckoned like that of the Levites. His father's 
name, his mother's name, his birth, his death, are none of them en- 
tered on the genealogical records. So Jesus is not a priest accord- 
ing to Levitical genealogy, " for it is evident that our Lord sprang 
out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning 
priesthood." He did not receive priestly orders by regular official 
descent, but by a more direct and special appointment. 

5th. Melchisedec w^as also a priest through a whole dispensation, 
and lived and ministered from the beginning to the end of the same, 
without having his priesthood to pass out of his own hands. So 



LECTURE XVII. — CHAPTER VII. 1 19. 



197 



our Lord is a priest who is made " not after the law of a carnal 
commandment, but after the power of an endless life." He is " a 
priest forever." He continues his office through the entire dispen- 
sation which he represents; nor shall he ever be succeeded by 
another. He received the priesthood in the commencement of it, 
and he shall hold it intransmissibly in his own hands until the neces- 
sity of its exercise is entirely removed in the final redemption of 
his church. The apostle declares that " he ever liveth to make 
intercession for us." 

6th. Finally, we saw that Melchisedec was greater than Abraham 
even after he had received the promises, and of consequence was 
greater than all Abraham's posterity, including also Levi among the 
rest. Christ also is greater than Abraham and all his race. Yea, 
as the Creator is superior to the creature, so is the Savior superior 
to all the members of the Hebrew family. It was He that said 
unto Moses from the fiery busli, " I am the God of thy Father, the 
God of Abraham^ the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." He 
is greater than the Levitical priests, for it was from him tliat they 
held their appointment, from him all their services derived their 
virtue, and he was made after the order of one to whom they all 
paid tithes in Abraham. 

Such, my hearers, are the excellencies of the priesthood of Je- 
sus Christ. Oh tiiat we would all properly appreciate them ! For 
it is indeed the dignity of Christianity, and the completeness of our 
redemption which we have thus set before us. The apostle does 
not thus employ himself, ply all his powers of argument and all his 
knowledge of Jewish and christian theology, and brave so much 
prejudice and opposition for the defense of some unimportant or 
speculative proposition. It is the honor of God and the salvation 
of men which are at stake. The priesthood of Jesus Christ is the 
very basis of our faitli — the concentrated essence of our religion. 
Take this away with its implied doctrine of atonement, and " all 
the religion that ever God revealed to sinful men is swept clean 
away. All the sacrificial blood shed by the patriarchs is nothing ; 
the Jewish priests with their torrents of sacrificial blood are noth- 
ing; the doctrine of salvation by the blood of Jesus, taught by him- 
self, and by all his apostles is nothing ; and this epistle certainly 
worse than nothing; because after a prodigious parade of zeal and 
argument, it proves just nothing at all. The river which watereth 



198 



LECTURE XVII. CHAPTER VII. 1 19. 



the paradise of the church is dried up in all its streams, the flowers 
wither, and the trees shed their immature fruit. Say not we have 
still left us the doctrine of the resurrection. It is not an escape 
from the grave, but admission into the presence of a reconciled 
God, that we want. Say not, that even after the doctrine of priest- 
hood and atonement is set aside, we have excellent rules of moral- 
ity. What avails it, with regard to our eternal condition, since by 
the deeds of the law no flesh living shall be justified in the sight of 
God. And even in the present life, what injury must our morality 
sufl^er, by being cut olF from approaching the throne of grace.'' 
After we shall have renounced the doctrine of redemption by the 
blood of Jesus, is there no danger that our morality will degenerate 
into the fretting metaphysics of moral speculation.'' In what nation 
did practical virtue ever distinguish the general character, till the 
doctrine of Christ's priesthood and atonement went before and 
sowed the seeds } From what country has this doctrine taken its 
flight, without carrying witli it the purity and dignity of christian 
morals? Was not the golden age of every church, the age when 
this doctrine stood prominent in her creeds, was proclaimed from 
her pulpits, was lisped by her babes, and dropped like honey from 
the lips of all her members ^ 

Let us then learn to revere and love the priesthood of Jesus 
Christ. Let us look upon it as our only hope. Let us embrace it 
by faith, and thus commit all our spiritual interests into the hands 
of Flim, who in all things was such an high priest as became us. 

'Gray's Priesthoods, page 117 — 120. 



LECTURE XVIII. 



SUPERIORITY OF MESSIAH's PRIESTHOOD CONTINUED. 

Heb. vii. 20 — 28. And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest : (For 
those priests were made witliout an oath ; but this with an oath by him that said 
unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the 
order of Melchisedec :) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testa- 
ment. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to con- 
tinue by reason of death : But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an un- 
changeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that 
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For 
such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin- 
ners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high 
priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for 
this he did once, when he offered up himself For the law maketh men high priests 
which have infirmity ; but the word of the oath, which was since the \a.w, maketh the 
Son, who is consecrated for evermore. 

The great superiority of the christian priesthood argued from 
its Melchisedecean order, which we had occasion to consider in 
the last lecture, would seem to us to be sufficiently clear to do 
away every doubt, and to subserve the apostle's every purpose. 
But Paul well understood the feelings, the prejudices, and the ob- 
stinacy of the people to whom he was writing. He knew from ex- 
perience and their past history that they were " a perverse and 
crooked generation." Hence he does not rest satisfied with what 
might be considered enough to convince all rational and unsophis- 
ticated minds ; but goes on with the manifest design to exhaust all 
the sources of argument on the subject. His devotion to Christian- 
ity — -his love for souls — and his agony of desire for the salvation 
of his national kindred, led him to the employment of every possi- 
ble means which in the providence of God might take effect, and 
bring some wild obstinate rebel into captivity to the Savior. The 
subject itself is so absolutely essential, and so vitally important, 
that he does not consent to dismiss it without exerting himself to 
the utmost of his power to sustain it, and to rivet it upon their at- 
tention. Consequently we find him adducing other considerations, 
to prove the superiority of Christ's priesthood to that of Aaron. 
These as contained in the text, it shall be my present business to 
point out and improve to our edification. 



200 



LECTURE %Vm. — CHAPTER Vlt. SO-— 28. 



1. The first instance to which he refers in which this superior 
excellence appears, is the peculiar manner in which he was invest^ 
ed with his office. " And inasmuch as not without an oath he was 
made priest : (for those priests were made without an oath ; but 
this with an oath, by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and 
will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Mel- 
chisedec :) by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testa° 
ment." An occasion heretofore presented itself for me to speak of 
the solemnity of the Divine oath.^ In addition to what was then 
said, I will remark further, that it is something of such peculiar 
and weighty import as very seldom, and that not on slight occa- 
sions, to be interposed. There is not a recorded instance of its in- 
terposition where there was not something unusually significant in 
the thing sworn to. The promise which was confirmed unto Abra° 
ham by this oath, embodied all God's gracious purposes to our 
fallen world. So also that made and similarly confirmed to David 
in the 87th Psalm. So also that in the 33d of Ezekiel. With this 
awful solemnity was Christ Jesus invested with priestly orders. 
Never before was the consecration of a priest performed in so sol- 
emn and significant a manner. There was no oath when either 
Melchisedec or Aaron was invested with the holy office. The Le- 
vites received it by regular descent, in virtue of the consecration 
of Aaron and his house ; and when they arrived to a certain age 
entered upon the discharge of its functions as a matter of course, 
without any other special ceremony. They were born to the 
priesthood, their right was a natural one according to the Jewish 
laws ; and the simple ordinance of their subsequent induction, was 
not an appointment, but the mere recognition of an appointment 
previously existing. But Christ's was a special appointment, and 
was secured unio him by the special interposition of the Divine 
oath. This unusual solemnity very plainly intimated, that there 
were interests of a far superior importance depending upon his 
ministry. His more dignified inauguration, and this additional se- 
curity for its faithful exercise, certainly indicated superiority in 
his office and suretyship. And turning away our eyes for a mo- 
ment from the Old Tesatment to look at this matter in the light of 
the Gospel, how manifest is the correctness of the supposition as to 
the dependence of higher interests upon the priesthood of Messi- 

' See Lecture xvi. page 179. 



LECTURE XYIII. — CHAPTER VII. 20 — 28. 



201 



ah ? Upon this reclined the hope of all that was dear to man, and 
all our tennporal and eternal good, Tlie rivers of l)lood which flow- 
ed down Jewish altars, with all the priestly intercessions of the 
preceding orders, did not secure to man one single substantial ben- 
efit which was not imparted in virtue of the sacrifice offered by the 
Son of God. All sure hopes — all acceptable piety — all interests, 
whether patriarchal, Jewish, Christian, temporal, or eternal, depend-, 
ed entirely upon the priesthood of Messiah. It was in considera- 
tion then of these momentous implications, that he was not made a 
priest without an oath ; and that oath furnishes the most conclusive 
testimony of the surpassing superiority of his priesthood. 

2. The next instance to which Paul refers in illustration of Christ's 
superior priestly excellence, is his perpetual ability to perform the 
duties of his office. "And they truly were many priests, because 
they were not suffered to continue by reason of death : but this 
man, because he continueth ever, hath an intransmissible priesthood. 
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come 
unto God by him, seeing he ever, liveth to make intercession for 
them." Notwithstanding the great dignity of the Jewish priests, 
and the solemn and splendid rites by which they were installed in 
it, they were but men, subject to infirmity and dissolution like those 
for whom they officiated. After the service of a few short years 
death came and put an end to their ministry. The official term of 
each was brief and always closed in the shade and silence of the 
grave. And so the office in the Jewish economy descended from 
one to another from Aaron down to him who sanctioned the death- 
sentence of the Son of God, and then ceased forever. It was not 
at all permanent but entirely temporary in its character. And 
though it is true that Christ also died ; yet the cases were totally 
dissimilar. The legal priests died out of office, but Christ died in 
it. Death among them was a detraction from the dignity of their 
office; whereas to die was the great business and glory of Messi- 
ah's priesthood. Death utterly incapacitated them for the duties of 
the priesthood ; but it was the great event which introduced the 
Savior to the exercise of its noblest functions. When the Jewish 
priest died no sacrifice burned upon the altar, and no incense per- 
fumed the presence-chamber of Jehovah ; but when Jesus sunk to 
the grave, it was that his blood might be drunk as an atonement for 
guilt, and that he might go and pour out his intercessions at the 
14 



202 



LECTURE XVIII. CHAPTER VII. 20 — 28. 



footstool of his Father. Death instead of putting an end to his 
priesthood^ only prolonged and ennobled it ; and instead of inter- 
rupting it, was itself an instance of its exercise. 

LTnlike the Jewish priests then, this man continueth ever; and 
his priesthood is an intransmissible priesthood. He had power to 
lay do'wn his life, and he had power to take it again ; and he ever 
liveth to make intercession. " Wherefore he is able to save them 
to the uttermost that come unto him." So little has death affected 
his capacity to carry on the great work of his priestly office, that 
he is just as able to instruct us in Divine wisdom now, as when he 
trod the highways of Palestine, or the streets of its renowned me- 
tropolis. He is just as able and. as willing now to cure us of our 
moral maladies, as when he rejoiced the hearts of the impotent who 
surrounded Bethesda's pool, or healed the afflicted whom he met 
in his earthly walks. He is equally competent to raise up every 
sinner from the grave of moral death in these latter days, as he was 
in the days of his flesh to bring up Lazarus from the corruption of 
natural decay. His goodness and his power are unchangeably the 
same. He was not only consecrated with an oath, but he is con- 
secrated a priest forever. His priesthood ever was, is now, and 
ever shall be in his own hands; and its high functions, involving 
the immortal destinies of uncounted millions, he is ever ready to ex- 
ercise. In consideration then of his continual readiness at all times, 
in all places, and under all circumstances to save to the uttermost 
all them that come unto God by him, how greatl}" superior is his 
priesthood to all other orders ! 

3. But Christ's superior priestly excellence may be seen again, 
in his superior personal dignity. ^' For such an high priest became 
us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and 
made higher than the heavens; Vvho needeth not daily, as those 
high-priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then 
for the people's, for this he did once when he offered up himself 
For the law maketh men high-priests which have infirmity ; but the 
word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son who is 
consecrated for evermore." 

The Jewish priests were " men having infirmity." Like those 
for whom they officiated, they were altogether sinful and unholy, 
and had need to offer sacrifices for themselves. This too is a duty 
prescribed in the Mosaic ritual, and the observance of it by every 
priest was enforced by the penalty of death. As they were mor- 



LECTURE XVIII. CHAPTER VII. 20 — 28. 



203 



lal, so also they were chargeable with error and sin, which it was 
their daily duty to confess and expiate by bloody sacrifices. But 
Christ can lay claim to a superior moral dignity. 1st. Paul affirms 
that he was holy. He was not only outwardly righteous ; but he 
was internally pure from all the seeds, principles, or inclinations of 
sin. 2nd. He was hmmless — perfectly free from any perpetrations 
of wrong. No charges of injuring any one, in name, person, or 
property, by word, gesture, or thought, could at any time be alledged 
against him. And though it cannot be said of any other inhabitant 
of earth, it may yet be said of him, that he never in any way did 
wrong to another. He was entirely holy, and harmless as he was 
pure. 3d. He was also iindefiled ; either by sin, or any improper 
desire or passion. He was unstained by crime, and unspotted from 
the world. As the lamb for the legal sacrifice, he was without spot 
or blemish. 4Lh. He was separate from sinners. With the wicked 
as such, he never associated. He partook not of their feelings, 
plans, or pleasures. Though he mingled with them whilst on earth, 
it was only that he might benefit their souls. With their princi- 
ples and views he had no sympathy. He could weep over their 
degradation and lay down his life for their redemption ; but never 
once was he to be identified with them in sin. 5th. And not only 
so ; the apostle declares him made higher than the heavens. He is 
lifted up in dignity above all the angels of God — far above all princi- 
palities and powers, and every name that is named upon the cata- 
logues of the exalted. How greatly superior then is our High 
Priest in personal dignity and excellence. Considered as a man, he 
is distinguished from all other men, not only by his miraculous con- 
ception—his sublime wisdom — and his stupendous works ; but also 
by his immaculate purity which remains free from contamination 
in all his intercourse with the fallen, and in all his conflicts with the 
powers of darkness. ' - ■ 

But in addition to the consideration of his pre-eminent moral ex- 
cellence, it is also to be taken into the account, that he is by nature 
the Son of God. For " the word of the oath which was since the 
law, maketh the Son'''' high-priest. By virtue of this Sonship he 
has a nature in common with the awful sovereign who reigns su- 
preme upon the throne of the universe. There is not a perfection 
— not one consideration of honor or dignity which adorns the Di- 
vine character, to which our High Priest cannot rightfully lay 
claim. For whilst he is said to have purged our sins and been seat- 



204 



LECTURE XVIII. CHAPTER VII. 20 28. 



ed at the right hand of the Majesty on high ; he is also described 
as " the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of 
his person." Surely then he is the most glorious and honored of 
all the ministers of God ; and the office sustained by him derives a 
lustre from his dignify, which throws both Melchisedec and Aaron 
into the shade. 

4. The paramount excellence of the Messiah's priesthood is also 
to be seen in the superior value of the sacrifice which he offered. 
The oblations presented by the legal priests consisted chiefly of 
beasts, such as oxen — sheep — goats, &c. The blood which they 
sprinkled w^as merely inferior animal blood. But Christ offered 
cot the firstlings of the flock — the choicest of the herd — or even 
the cattle upon ten thousand hills. It w^as not by the blood of bulls 
or of goats that he sought to procure remission of sins for the guilty. 
The apostle affirms in the text, that " he offered up himself.''' He 
v/as at once the priest and the sacrifice. The victims for the Jew- 
ish oblations were mean, and their cost of but trifling consideration. 
But what can represent the worth of the christian offering ! It 
overmatches the entire contents of heaven's exhaustless treasury, 
y/hat thus raises the worth of the Savior's sacrifice above all cal- 
culation, is the inexpressible dignity of the victim. Not from among 
the animal orders — not from among human or angelic ranks was he 
selected. He w^as plucked from the throne of Deity itself. He 
who was seated amid the splendor of a wide and everlasting em- 
pire, receiving the honor and applause of an unn^ieasured universe, 
was brought down as the victim. He who w^as the object of heav- 
en's loudest Halleluias, w^as made to endure the torments due our 
sins. Yes, he to w^hose praise the exultant notes swelled over the 
plains of glory — " Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty !" 
was made the subject of crucifixion and death, in order to atone for 
human guilt. " He who was slain without the gates of Jerusalem 
was the Lord of glory, although the princes of this world did not 
recognize him in such profound humiliation; the blood with which 
the church was redeemed was the blood of God, although the priests 
and rulers of the Jews, who saw it streaming from his wounds, de- 
spised it as the blood of an impious malefactor. The Godhead it 
is acknowledged is impassible ; but from the union of the two na- 
tures of Christ, there resulted a communication of properties, in con- 
sequence of which the acts of both belonged to the same person, 
and are predicated of each other. That nature died which alone 



LECTURE XVIII. CHAPTER VII. 20 — 28. 



205 



could die ; but it was the nature of him who was higher than the 
kings of the earth and the angels of heaven, because he and his Fa- 
ther are one. Compared with this oblation, those which were of- 
fered with such pomp in the temple of Jerusalem were weak and 
childish things, and would be altogether unworthy of notice, were 
it not that God himself appointed them, and that they derived a bor- 
rowed importance from their typical relation to the sacrifice of 
Christ."! 

5. There is however another view of Messiah's priesthood, which 
goes oa still farther to show its superiority. It is represented as 
having permanently secured all the interests of all men depending 
upon the exercise of priestly functions. It is said that he offered 
up himself" o?ice for allP It was necessary for the legal priests 
daily to repeat their sacrifices. There was nothing in the charac- 
ter of the oifering, or in those who made it, which was at all com- 
petent to wash away sins, or to do away the great reason for the 
sacrificial service. Their sole purpose was to keep up a proper 
acknowledgment of those numerous transgressions, which Christ's 
atonement alone could cancel ; and to accomplish this, their daily 
repetition was indispensable. But not so with our great high-priest. 
The offering which he made, though presented but once, was so 
ample and perfect that it had sufficient merit to counterbalance the 
ill desert of an entire world, and needed never to be repeated. — 
There is not one single claim of Divine justice upon one single in- 
dividual of all the generations of Adam, which it has not effectually 
met. The sacrifice of Christ forever did away all sacrifice; be- 
cause it at once by the draining of the life-blood of an incarnate 
God forever did away with the only occasion of sacrifice. No 
priest can come after priest Messiah ; and without him, all the 
priesthoods of former ages are powerless. Christ Jesus is pre-em- 
inently the priest — and that of Messiah the priesthood of all time. 
The Savior covers the whole ground ; not an interest is overlook- 
ed ; not a soul is neglected. His offering was " once for all?'' Ac- 
cording to prophecies long ago uttered, "He finished the transgres- 
sion, and made an end of sins, and made reconciliation for iniquity, 
and brought in everlasting righteousness." 

From these considerations the conclusion is inevitable, that the 
priesthood of Messiah is far superior to all other priesthoods ; and 
hence that the christian system is to be preferred to all other reli- 

' Dick's Theology, Vol. 2, page 54. 



208 



LECTURE XVIII. CHAPTER VII. 20 — 28. 



gions, and claims attention and confidence by reasons greatly more 
urgent than those which wedded the Jews to tlie Mosaic institu- 
tions. A more judicious course of argument than is here employed, 
is not to be conceived. It is one w'hich must have told with over- 
whelming power upon the mind of every thoughtful Jewish reader, 
and it is one which should not be without its effects upon us. 

From this discussion we are led to contemplate the entire ability 
of the Savior to redeem and glorify all them that come to him. — 
Consecrated priest by the Divine oath — raised from the dead to 
continue the exercise of his priestly functions on the other side of 
the grave — honored with high and peculiar personal endowments — 
presenting a sacrifice the value of which cannot be computed by 
finite intelligence — and offering that " once for all," " he is able 
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." 
This power he many a time evinced while he walked the earth the 
despised and rejected Nazarene ; but he is daily displaying it now 
in more numerous and striking instances than in the days of his hu- 
miliation. No one has ever asked aid of him. and found him una- 
ble to render it. None has ever sunk because his arm w^as too 
weak to save. What he has done for the few who are now exult- 
ing in the joys of redemption, he can do for all : nor shall any one 
that trusts in him ever be confounded. He is able to save to the 
uttermost. " He makes the salvation complete. So the Bible as- 
sures us; and so we see it in fact as far as we can trace the soul. 
When a christian friend dies, w^e stand at his bedside and accom- 
pany him as far as we can into the valley of the shadow of death. 
We ask him whether he feels that Christ is able to save.'' He re- 
plies, '•yes.'' When he has lost the power of speaking above a 
whisper, we ask him the same question, and receive the same reply. 
When he gives us the parting hand, and we, still anxious to know 
whether all is well, ask the same question, a sign, a smile, a light- 
ing up of the dying eye, declares that all is well. As far as we 
can trace the departing soul when it goes into the dark valley, we 
receive the same assurance ; and why should w^e doubt that the 
same grace is bestowed further onward, and that he 'saves to the 
uttermost.?' But what else thus saves ? Friends give the parting 
hand at the gloomy entrance of that valley, and the gay and the 
worldly coolly turn away. The delusions of infidelity there forsake 
the soul, and minister no comfort then. Flatterers turn away from 
the dying scene — for who flatters the dying w^ith the praise of beau- 



LECTURE XVIII. — CHAPTER VII. 20 — 28. 



207 



ty or accomplishQients ? Taste, skill, learning, talent, do not help 
then, for how can they save a dying' soul.^ None but Jesus saves 
to the uttermost."^ He, and he alone has vt^arranted the declara- 
tion of the expiring saint — ^' Yea, though I walk througli the val- 
ley of the shadow of death, I v^ill fear no evil : for thou art with 
me : thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.*" 

But this discussion of the peculiarities of Messiah's priesthood 
also furnislies us a view of his entire adaptation to our wants. — - 
''For sucli an High priest becameus, who is holy, harmless," &c. Our 
circumstances were such as to render these moral perfections in- 
dispensable in him who undertook the mediatorship between God 
and us. Christ was holy ; and without holiness he could not have 
been admitted into the Divine favor to intercede for us. He was 
harmless ; and without this quality he would have added to our 
woes instead of extinguishing them. He was nndefiled ; and with- 
out this his sacrifice would have been unavailing. He was separate 
from sinners ; and without this sanctification he never could have 
been the head of a perfect church, or furnished us a pattern of heav- 
enly excellence. He was made higher than the heavens ; and with- 
out this supreme exaltation he could not have been " a Prince and 
a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." 
He needed not lo olfer sacrifices for himself ; and except such were 
the case, his atonement would be greatly depreciated in its merit, in 
having been drawn upon to expiate his own guilt. All these qual- 
ifications then accommodated him entirely to our condition. He is 
just such a priest and Redeemer as we require. And had he lack- 
ed these perfections, we should after a. shamieful life and end in 
this world, have all been thrown down eternally, into the darkest 
and dr ' \df of hell; where under the despiteful control, the 
trample : ; : /arn of all other damned, that in the anguish of their 
torture should liave no other ease than to exercise a raving and bes- 
tial tyranny over us as their slaves, we must have remained in that 
pliglit for ever, the basest, the lowermost, the most dejected, the 
most underfoot and trodden-down vassals of perdition."- 

The priesthood of Christ being such as to fit him exactly to our 
wants and circumstances, his religion is altogether such as man can 
desire. It reveals just such truth as it is most important for us to 
understand — imparts just such consolation as we need, pure, rich, 
exalting and unfailing — reconciles us to God in a manner more hon- 

' Barnes' Notes, in loc. " John Milton on Reformation. 



20S 



LECTURE XVIII. CHAPTER VII. 20 — 28. 



orable to him, and more in accordance with the dignity of the law 
than any other plan — and comes with the same familiar grace to the 
halls of the rich and the hovels of the poor, to the studies of the 
learned and the humble walks of the less informed. There is not 
a movement in the whole complex machinery of human society to 
which it is not accommodated, or will not impart a beautiful and 
harmonious action. No other system so much consults the true 
dignity of our nature, and the honor of God ; no one diffuses such 
consolations through the life that now is, or fills with such glad 
hopes in regard to that which is to come. 

Such then being the superior excellence of our great High Priest 
— such his entire, saving ability — such his complete adaptation to 
our condition, why is it that so many still deny him, reject his au- 
thority, and in effect crucify him afresh } Why do men cling to the 
pitiable and transient pleasures of this life, and let go all that rich 
and exhaustless joy there is in loving and serving him Wherein 
lies the preferableness of worldliness and vanity to piety and eter- 
nal life } Is infidelity more attractive in the hopes which it holds 
out to the sin-burdened soul.? Has it any claims to weigh against 
our blessed Christianity ? Will it at all compare in its principles — 
in its effects — in its promises with the religion of Jesus ? Is sin 
more lovely than a spotless innocency Is sensuality with the aw- 
ful risk of the soul's eternal loss, more to be desired than a christian 
walk with the prospect of heavenly reward } How can it be that 
any should act upon doctrines such as these .? And yet, these are 
the very principles acted out in the rejection of Jesus Christ. Is 
it not foolish — and reckless — and impious to turn aside without con- 
sideration, a matter so frauglit with interests of eternal moment ? — 
My hearers, let it be our part to act with the utmost prudence and 
care in reference to the great matter of our salvation. Let us yield 
our hearts sincerely and entirely to the Savior — embrace him as our 
individual High Priest — and make his great redemption ours. Let 
it not be said— Heaven forbid that it should ever be said — " His 
blood be upon our heads." But recognizing his Messiahship, and 
adoring his Divinity, let us go to him in deep penitence for our 
guilt, pleading the merits of his great sacrifice, and relying only up- 
on his power and goodness, for adoption into the holy family of the 
redeemed. And may the Lord God, most mightj^, help us in our ap- 
proach unto him ; and our ransomed souls shall ascribe present and 
endless praises unto his matchless name. 



LECTURE XIX. 



THE NEW COVENANT. 

Heb. viii. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum : We have such 
an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the 
heavens ; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord 
pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifi- 
ces : wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For 
if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that of- 
fer gifts according to the law ; Who serve unto the example and shadow of heaven- 
ly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was aboutto make the taber- 
nacle : for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shew- 
ed to thee in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, 
by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established 
upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no 
place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Be- 
hold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel and with the house of Judah : Not according to the covenant that 
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them 
out of the land of Egypt ; because they continued not in my covenant, and I re- 
garded them not, saith the Lord, For this is the covenant that I will make with 
the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their 
mind, and write them in their hearts : and I will be to them a God, and they shall 
be to me a people : And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every 
man his brother, saying, Kndw the Lord ; for all shall know me, from the least to 
the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and 
their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he 
hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to 
vanish away. 

In the first five verses of the chapter just read, the apostle makes 
a brief pause in the progress of his argument to survey the ground 
over which he had now passed. 

" Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum : We 
have ixn high priest.''^ This is a point settled — proved — indisputa- 
ble. The Divine oath had forever put that question to rest. 

Not only have we a priest according to the apostle's showing, 
but a priest exalted to the highest honor in the universe — " set on 
the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." This 
is clear from his having been exalted above the angels. 

Not only have we an exalted priest, but a priest who officiates 
in the place represented by the tabernacle of Moses — in the imme- 
diate dwelling-place of God ; — " a minister of holy things, of the 
15 



^10 



LECTURE XIX. CHAPTER VIII. 1 IS. 



true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For eyerj 
high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices : wherefore it is 
of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he 
were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are 
priests that offer gifts according to the law : who serve unto the 
example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished 
of God W'hen he w^as about to make the tabernacle : for, See (saith 
he) that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to 
thee in the mount." Christ then officiating in the place represent- 
ed by the tabernacle, is of necessity also the priest of that dispen- 
sation which the tabernacle system typified. Being tlien " the me- 
diator of a better covenant," the apostle proceeds to show from the 
superiority of the new dispensation to the old, that he is in the same 
proportion also superior to the priests of the old dispensation. 

The word covenant is used in the Scriptures to designate " an 
arrangement, disposition, or institution, according to which the 
Divine favor is dispensed to those Avith whom it is made. It is 
represented, not as a contract or bargain, in virtue of which, on the 
ground of something done by man, its blessings are to be commu- 
nicated; but as a free and voluntary constitution on the part of Je- 
liovah, consisting of a deed or grant of blessings, and the particular 
mode or tenure of their conveyance. 

" Besides minor arrangements of this description, the Bible exhib- 
its two primary covenants or dispensations, which it denominates 
the first and second^ and the old and neio covenants. Of these, the 
first or old covenant is expressly stated to be, that which God made 
with the children of Israel, when he took them to be a peculiar peo- 
ple to himself, and is the same that is commonly called the Mosaic 
or Sinai covenant, because given to Moses on mount Sinai. It was 
a covenant of peculiarity, by which the whole of the Israelites be- 
came what no other nation of this world, before or since, has been 
— the peculiar people of God, or a kingdom governed immediately 
by God, and whose visible judges and rulers were to have no legis- 
lative power, but were to act merely as vicegerents of Jehovah, 
and execute his laws. The great moral code, which is binding on 
all mankind, at all times, and under all circumstances as a rule of 
life, and the specific enactment of which are only so many expres- 
sions of that love to God and man which is essential to the well- 
being of creation, was laid as the basis of this constitution, and on 



LECTURE XIX. CHAPTER VIII. 1 — 13. 



211 



this account it is frequently called the law : regular forms of Di- 
vine worship were appointed ; a regular priesthood separated for 
its perfornfiance ; and the requisite civil and political institutes or- 
dained. The whole, while admirably adapted to answer every 
purpose of existing legislation and government, had a prospective 
or prefigurative reference to a future and superior dispensation ; or 
the second and new covenant, which was instituted by the Lord 
Jesus Christ, ratified by the shedding of his blood, and is the gra- 
cious charter according to which God has revealed it to be his 
pleasure to dispense the sovereign blessings of his mercy to sinners 
of all nations under heaven."^ 

The parties of this covenant are God, and sinners represented in 
Jesus Christ. Its object is the display of Divine love, and the re- 
demption of sinners. The conditio7is of this covenant so far as they 
bear upon Christ, are, 1st. perfect obedience to the precepts of the 
law, and 2nd. satisfaction for the sins of mankind ; so far as they 
bear upon man, repentance of sin, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

It is called a neiv covenant not in respect of the date of its forma- 
tion, but only in respect of its manifestation. It was a matter of 
eternal agreement between the Persons of the Godhead, though it 
was not made known to man until a covenant of a preparatory char- 
acter had been established and had fulfilled its design. It is rep- 
resented in the Scriptures as " grace given us in Christ, before the 
world began," though it was only fully manifested in the incarna- 
tion of the Son of God. 

The first point of superiority in this covenant to that made with 
Moses, relates to its promises. " A better covenant," says the apos- 
tle, " which was established on better promises." The promises 
of the Mosaic covenant pertained mainly to the present life. They 
were promises of length of days — of increase of numbers — of seed- 
time and harvest — of national privileges — extraordinary peace, 
abundance and prosperity. There was no doubt an indistinct ref- 
erence to spiritual and everlasting good ; but this was not the main 
thing. The Jews had very little knowledge, and still less thought, 
of another life. The faithful observance of their ceremonial regu- 
lations returned them temporal blessings, and disobedience and ne- 
glect brought upon them temporal adversity. Time to a very great 
extent circumscribed their view, and what did relate to eternity 
was seen only in dim shadows. 

' Encjcl. Rel. Knowledge, page 421. 



212 



LECTURE XIX. — CHAPTER VIII. 1 — 13. 



But in the new covenant the thing is different. Though it gives 
us " the promise of the life which now is," it also furiiishes the 
promise of " that which is to come." Insteai of giving earth the 
prominence in the picture, it presents the realities of eternity direct- 
ly before us. Instead of holding out to us earthly good, it 
promises "treasures where moth doth not corrupt, nor thieves 
hreak through and steal." The great promise of the new covenant, 
and which in fact comprehends all its blessings, is eternal life, 
" The Scriptures make mention of it as the great end of the incar- 
nation and sufferings of Christ : ' God so loved the wo2?ld, that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, might 
sot perish, but have everlasting life.' It is emphatically represent- 
ed as the promise, to denote not merely its pre-eminence, but its 
comprehensiveness: 'This is the promise that he hath promised 
us, even eternal life.' By reflecting upon the sis^bject you will per- 
ceive that all the blessings of grace and glory are included in it. 
The enjoyment of it is not confined to the future state; it commen- 
ces in this world, when the believer not only obtains a title to im- 
mortal happiness, but is illuminated, and sanctified, and comforted 
by the Spirit of grace, and it will be perfected in the world to 
come. ' This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life ; 
and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; and he 
that hath not the Son, hath not life. These things have I written 
to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may 
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the 
name of the Son of God.' "i 

Who does not see that these promises are far better than those of 
the legal dispensation ? As eternity is longer than time — as heaven 
i^ higher than earth — as everlasting life is preferable to temporal 
prosperity, so is the measure of superiority in the promises of the 
new covenaBt to those of the old. 

But again, the new covenant is better than the old in that it does 
not rest in external observances, but is mainly spiritual in its charac- 
ter. " For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of 
Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into 
their mind, and write them in their hearts." The laws of the for- 
mer dispensation had reference mainly to the regulation of the exter- 
rsa] conduct. Their worship was a worship of forms and ceremo- 

' Dick's Theology. Vol, 1, page 508. 



LECTURE XIX. CHAPTER. VIII. 1 13. 



213 



mes. Their purifications were outward purificatioias. Their obe- 
dience w^s an obedience of the outward man. All affecting the 
heart it is true w^hcn attended to in sincerity, but indirectly and re- 
fnotely. It was not immediately with the soul that the Mosaic law 
dealt. But the laws of the new dispensation relate particularly to 
the inner man, and are designed to control the heart. It prescribes 
few external rites, and those are but simple expressions of the pious 
feelings of the heart ; and all attempts to increase their number, or 
to clothe them with imposing gorgeousness, have only tended to 
mar the simplicity and corrupt the purity of the religion of Jesus 
It takes down the Divine laws from the places they formerly occu- 
pied on tablets of stone, and from which they frowned upon us in 
all the wrath of their violated dignity, and writes them on the ta- 
bles of the heart and of the mind. It engraves them upon the sou! 
itself. It is an arrangement which effectually secures the spiritual 
observance of the Divine requirements. It gives man a liking of 
soul for what he formerly rebelled against It communicates to 
h\s soul a bent toward obedience. It plants the principle of obedi- 
ence in the heart, and turns the taste and inclinations of him who 
is brought under this gracious constitution in a direction w^hich 
falls in with the entire spirit of the law. And as if carried forward 
by the spontaneous and inborn alacrity of a constitutional impulse, 
he runs with delight the way of all the commandments. 

Nor is it a very difficult task for us to specify the different pre- 
cepts of the decalogue as they have been transferred safe and en- 
tire to the heart of him who has drunk in the genius of our better 
dispensation. ^' We are sure that such a man will have his supreme 
affections fastened upon God, and renouncing every idol, whether 
of wealth, or of ambition, or of vanity, that can dethrone the Fa- 
ther of his spirit from his rightful ascendency, he will prefer no one 
object of regard, or of reverence before him. We are sure that, 
i5uch a man will be quite in earnest to have a right knowledge and 
conception of God — that the Being he worships may be the true 
God — and lest, by directing his homage to some false and distorted 
picture of his own fancy, he may incur all the guilt, and be carried 
;away by all the delusion of him w^ho falls down to a material image, 
in lowly and bending adoration. We are sure that such a man will 
do honor to the hallowed name of his Master, wlio is in heaven, 
and be sickened and appalled by that profaneness which is so cur- 



214 



LECTURE XIX, — CHAPTER VIII. \ 13. 



rent in many of our companies." We are sure that the holy Sab- 
bath will be to him, with all its images and circumstances, a thing 
of delightful memory, and all its consecrated hours the subjects of 
scrupulous and devout regard. " We are sure that such a man wili 
revere his earthly parents, and will stand by them in the midst of 
their sinking infirmities; and whether in the form of a declining 
father, or a widowed mother, who has thrown the whole burden of 
her dependence on the children who remain to her, we are sure 
that he will never turn a contemptuous ear to the feebleness of their 
entreating voice — but will bid his proud and aspiring manhood give 
up to their authority all its waywardness, and all its tumultuous in- 
dependence. We are quite sure, that in the heart of such a man, 
there is an aspiration of kindliness towards everything that breathes, 
and that the commandment. Thou shall not kill, carries in his bo- 
som the widely extended import of thou shalt not conceive one 
purpose, nor carry against a single human being, one rankling sen- 
timent of malignity. We are sure that such a man, far removed 
from all that is licentious in practice, will recoil, even in the unseen 
solitude of thought, from all that is licentious in conception, and 
spurning away from the pure sanctuary of his heart every evil and 
unhallowed visitation, he will present to the approving eye of Heav- 
en, all the adornments of a spiritual temple, all the graces and all 
the beauties of an unspotted otTering. We are sure that such a 
man, with a hand unsoiled with any one of the gains of injustice, 
will with all the sensitiveness of his high-minded and honorable 
principle, keep himself as nobly aloof from substantial as from lit- 
eral dishonesty. He will feel superior to every one of those toler- 
ated artifices, and those practical disguises, which throughout the 
great mass of mercantile society, have so hardened and so worn 
down the consciences of those, who, for years, have been spending 
and bustling their way amongst a variety of manifold transactions— 
and in the high walk of simplicity and Godly sincerity, will he carry 
along with him the impress of one of the peculiar people, amid all 
the legalized fraudulency of* a selfish and unprincipled generation. 
We are quite sure that such a man, seeing that he had put on the 
deeds of the new creature, would never suffer the burning infamy 
of a lie to rest upon him. All that was within him, and about him, 
would be clear as the etherial firmament. The wiles of a deceit- 
ful policy would be utterly unknown to him. The openness and 



LECTURE XIX. CHAPTER VITI. 1 13. 



215 



ingenuousness of truth, would sit upon his forehead, and every ut- 
terance bear upon it as decided a stamp of authority, as if shielded 
by a solemn appeal to God and to the Judgment-seat. And lastly, 
we are quite sure that such a man could not breathe a single avari- 
cious desire after the substance of another. His heart is set on an- 
other treasure. He has entered the service of another master than 
the mammon of unrighteousness. His affections have settled on a 
more enduring substance. With the eye of faith, he looks to heav- 
en, and to its unfading and imperishable riches : and all the splen- 
dor of this world's vain and empty magnificence, sink into worth- 
lessness before them. He can eye the golden career of his more 
prosperous neighbors, without one w^istful sentiment either of cov- 
etousness or envy ; and feels not the meanness and the hardships of 
his humbler condition, and the tranquillities of a heart that is cher- 
ishing a better prospect, and reposing on the sure anticipation of a 
happier and more enduring home."^ 

Now all this is not the fruit of a direct effort on the part of such 
a man to conform himself to the law; it is the impulse created in 
his heart through his faith. It is the nature of a christian to do 
right. Hence it is said that " whosoever is born of God cannot 
sin, because he is born of God." His new nature leads him in the 
path of right. The law is in his mind and in his heart. We see 
that the Gospel has taken hold of the very springs of action, and 
turned the deepest emotions of his soul in the way of piety. The 
spirituality, and hence the superiority, of the new covenant is thus 
very clearly shown. 

And this leads to a third instance of the superiority of the second 
over the first covenant, viz. its superior efficiency. "And they shall 
teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 
Know the Lord : for all shall know me, from the least to the great- 
est." " This passage does not refer to the fact that the true reli- 
gion will be universally diffused, but that among those who are in- 
terested, in the blessings of the new covenant there would be an ac- 
curate and just knowledge of the the Lord."' Having the law in 
their hearts and minds, " they shall have a much more certain and 
effectual teaching than they can derive from another."^ 

That the knowledge of God under the old covenant was imper- 



' Chalmer's "Works, page 432. 
^ Doddridge, 



- Barnes in loc. 



216 



LECTURE XIX.— CHAPTER VIII. 1 — ^13. 



feet and limited, we have numerous reasons to believe. 1st. The 
manner in which their knowledge of God was obtained was imper- 
fect and ineffectual. " Under the old covenant, properly speaking, 
there was no public instruction : before the erection of synagogues, 
all worship was confined at first to the tabernacle, afterward to the 
temple. When synagogues were established, they were used prin- 
cipally for the bare reading of the law and the prophets : and scarce- 
ly any such thing as a public ministry for the continual instruction 
of the common people was found in the land, till the time of John 
the Baptist, our Lord, and his apostles."^ 2nd. Their Scriptures 
lacked the clearest part of the volume of revelation as possessed 
under the new dispensation. It was only through the communica- 
tions of the Son of God and secondarily of his apostles, that a com- 
plete knowledge of the Divine character was given to mankind. All 
the additional light of the Christian Scriptures the Jews lacked. 
3d. We find it moreover recorded in their history, that they fre- 
quently lapsed into idolatry, and went off to the worship of stocks 
and stones — a thing entirely incompatible with a correct idea of the 
Divine character. But under the new dispensation the knowledge 
of God is so clearly revealed in the Scriptures, and so effectually 
graven on the heart by the Holy Spirit, that it is not at all necessa- 
ry for those who are the subjects of this new arrangement to in- 
struct each other in a private capacity respecting this point. There 
is such a profusion of light, and that light so clearly apprehended, 
that ''they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man 
his brother, saying. Know the Lord : for all shall know me, from 
the least to the greatest." 

The truth of this prophetic representation of the new covenant 
is not to be doubted. It may be seen by comparing the ideas of 
God prevalent to this day among the Jews, with those entertained 
by christians ; or, by comparing the Old Testament with the New. 
The three short sentences, "God is a spirit" — "God is light" — 
"God is love," give us a clearer idea of the Divine character than 
is to be learned from all the Jewish Scriptures taken together. And 
the simple consciousness of the christian, furnishes him as complete 
a conception of the Deity, as that with which the combined wisdom 
of Jewish theologians could furnish him. 

Again, the new covenant is superior to the old, in that it is more 
strongly marked with the Divine condescension and mercy. " For 
' Clarke. 



LECTURE XIX. — CHAPTER VIII. 1 13. 217 

I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their 
iniquities will I remember no more." And moreover, " I will be 
to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." The old cove- 
nant " was comparatively severe in its inflictions ; marked every 
offense with strictness ; and employed the language of mercy much 
less frequently than that of justice. It was a system where law and 
justice reigned, not wiiere mercy was the crowning and prevalent 
attribute. It was true that it contemplated pardon, and made ar- 
rangements for it ; but it is still true that this is much more promi- 
nent in the new dispensation than in the old. It is there the lead- 
ing idea. It is that which separates it from all other systems. The 
entire arrangement is one for the pardon of sin in a manner consis- 
tent with the claims of law and justice, and it bestows the benefit of 
forgiveness in the most ample and perfect manner on all who 
are interested in the plan. In fact, the peculiarity by which the 
Gospel is distinguished from all other systems, ancient and modern, 
philosophical and moral, pagan and deistical, is that it is a system 
making provision for the forgiveness of sin, and actually bestowing 
pardon on the guilty. This is the centre, the crown, the glory of 
the new dispensation. God is merciful to the unrighteousness of 
men; and their sins are remembered no more."^ Not that God 
literally forgets that men are sinners, but that through the provisions 
of his grace he treats them as if they never had been sinners. Their 
transgressions are thrown into the shade ; and though once deprav- 
ed and alienated, Jehovah becomes to them a God, and they to him 
a people. No condescension and mercy like this marked the old 
dispensation. It is here and here only that the Divine love receives 
its full expression. It was especially in view of this that David 
sung, " O, render thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mer- 
cy endureth forever." 

Finally, the former dispensation was temporary, and in its hoary 
decrepitude was ready to vanish away. This was plainly implied 
in the promise of a neio. But the new covenant is invariably rep- 
resented as an " everlasting covenant." Thus it is designated in the 
prophecy to which the apostle refers. (.Ter. xxxi. & xxxii.) The 
sun and the moon, and the stars shall fail from before the Lord ra- 
ther than his covenant not stand. It is to be succeeded by no other 

^ Barnes in loc. 



21S 



LECTURE XIX. CHAPTER VIII. 1 13. 



dispensation, but is to stand until the winding- up of all things, when 
God shall be all, and in all. 

How desirable then is the new cov^enant ! It writes the laws of 
God on the mind and on the heart, and effectually securer their true 
and spiritual observance. In this every other institution has failed. 
Legislators have enacted good laws — parents have uttered good 
precepts — sages have expressed sound maxims — rand nature from 
age to age has been whispering kssons of duty into the ears of 
man ; but what have these things done in regulating the outward 
conduct, to say nothing about the dispositions of the soul } They 
may be written in books — recorded on tablets — hung up in temples 
— and preached to the four winds ; but will men regard them ? — 
Are their evil passions restrained by them.'' Can a single instance 
of their adequacy be adduced .'^ No. It is the Gospel alone that 
checks the war-horse of passion back upon his haunches, and bends 
the stubborn impulses of the soul to the commands of God. How 
well then is it adapted to our wants.? And how highly should we 
prize, and how^ grateful should we be for so blessed an arrangement ! 

The new covenant presents us with a God whom we can call 
ours. Man cannot exist without a God. His soul cannot live with- 
out having some Divinity on winch to leaii: But woe be unto him, 
when his soul goes out in search of an object on which to rest its 
adoring affections, if it fails to centre upon Him who sits upon the 
throne. Mistakes like these have watered the earth with tears and 
blood, and multiplied the numbers of the damned. Philosophy 
wants a God ; heathenism wants a God ; infidelity wants a God ; 
atheism wants a God ; and wretched, sinful, dying man everywhere 
wants a God. And this is a want which the Gospel alone can sup- 
ply. But thanks be unto God, the Gospel is able to supply it. 
Thus saith the Lord, "I will be to them a God, and they shall be 
to me a people." 

The new covenant also contemplates the general diffusion of the 
knowledge of God. Ignorance or forgetfulness of God has been 
at the root of all impiety. The great reason assigned in the Scrip- 
tures for human profligacy, is that the wicked have not God in all 
their thoughts. And without a correct view of the Divine charac- 
ter there can be no true religion — no genuine faith — no commend- 
able virtue — no saving piety. Real righteousness is the reflection 
of the Divine image in us, and if our impressions of the Deity are 



LECTURE XIX. — CHAPTER VIII. I — 13. 



219 



indistinct, our characters must suffer a corresponding modification. 
It is by a view of God that we are first impelled to piety, and it is 
through fear of him that our holiness is to be perfected. Should 
it not then be made a subject of joy and gratitude, that the Gospel 
proposes to supply the great want of man in this respect ! 

Finally, the new covenant offers unto us a free and full pardon 
for sin. How to escape from the power and effects of sin, has 
been the anxious sigh of human nature for ages. It is a question 
v^hose answer is sought in every system of religion, and by every 
bloody offering. Generation after generation on their way to ob- 
livion cried for pardon, and inquired the way in which forgiveness 
was to be obtained. The devotee urged the inquiry at the shrine 
of his god — the priest at liis altar of sacrifice — and the sage re- 
peated it as he walked amid the works and wonders of creation; 
but the only full reply is given in " the glorious Gospel of the 
blessed God." Here it is written in characters clear as light that 
sin may be pardoned, as well as hoic it may be done. For the Lord 
hath said, " I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their 
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." No matter how 
numerous the instances of offense, or how malignant their charac- 
ter, " though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool if 
ye be willing and. obedient," saith the Lord. 

Let us then make it our frequent business to contemplate the 
mercies of this better covenant, and the favors of that dispensation 
whose smiles and sunshine we are privileged to enjoy. It is in its 
nature so excellent, and its provisions are so rich and so suitable, 
that it is altogether worthy of any and every man's serious medita- 
tion. The man who can treat it contemptuously and carelessly, 
can sport with his own life, and is ready to throw away his inter- 
ests in both worlds with a jeer. Like the poor idiot who gathers 
up his broken and filthy rubbish and broods over it with a miser's 
solicitude ; so he who can ridicule Christianity hugs corruption to 
liis bosom, and takes damnation with an appetite ! 

But I trust that I have none among my present hearers, who do 
not realize to some extent, at least, the importance of the christian 
economy, and the consequent obligations of gratitude under which 
it places you. Let those then who number yourselves among God's 
peculiar people, be careful to show your gratitude, in endeavoring 



220 



LECTURE XIX. CHAPTER VIII. 1 13. 



to the utmost of your ability to extend unto others the same privil- 
eges with which you have been blessed. And let those of you 
who have never yet taken upon yourselves a profession of religion, 
be exceedingly careful how you conduct yourselves in respect to 
the Gospel. Your situation is a very critical and dangerous one. 
See to it that you secure an interest in the new covenant. For 
bow can you escape, if you neglect so great salvation May Al- 
mighty God incline each heart to do his will ! 



LECTURE XX. 

THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES. 

Heb. ix. 1 — 5. Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, 
and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made ; the first, wherein 
was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread ; which is called the sanctu- 
ary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all ; 
which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about 
with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that bud- 
ded, and the tables of the covenant ; and over it the cherubims of glory shadovy- 
ing the mercy seat ; of which we cannot now speak particularly. 

There seems to be two prominent respects in which the priest- 
hood of Messiah is superior to the Aaronic priesthood ; viz : in its 
rank — and in the nature and virtue of its services. The apostle 
disposed of the first of these in the 7th chapter, and in the one 
upon which we are now entering he comes to discuss the second. 
In conducting this discussion, he first gives us a brief discription of 
the ancient Tabernacle ; secondly, a discription of the services 
therein performed; and thirdly, he draws some important reflec- 
tions concerning their efficacy, and the efficacy of the mediation of 
Jesus Christ. 

In discoursing from the words read, it is my design to present 
you with some amplification and explanation of Paul's discription 
of the Tabernacle and its furniture, with such doctrinal and prac- 
tical remarks as the subject may suggest. 

There are some persons who object to such a use of these little 
matters of the Old Testament, particularly as there is so much that 
is plain and practical in the Bible besides them. But I am disposed 
to think that you will all agree with the statement, that the volume 
of Revelation contains nothing that is redundant or superfluous ; 
and that no records made of the things of the past have been con- 
tinued on its sacred pages as the mere lumber of a repealed econo- 
my, and which are of no use to us under the new dispensation. We 
have been taught from our childhood, and from the highest author- 
ity, that Jill Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction in righteousness." There truly are many 
things which to us are difficult to understand, and others which 



222 



LECTURE XX. CHAPTER IX. 1 5. 



seem entirely meaningless. But truth is always gradual in its de- 
velopment. It cannot be grasped at once. It is so in respect to 
every one of the settled doctrines of christian theology. There 
are passages and doctrines which novv are clear, which the ancients 
never fully understood. There must be patient study and investi- 
gation. It was by books that Daniel was made to understand some 
of the mysteries of what was written before his day. And it is a 
feeling execrable indeed, which would so confine us to what is 
plain and easy as to prevent our inquiring into what is yet doubtful 
or obscure. I hold it as a christian duty to search out as far as we 
can the whole mind of God, whether that mind be communicated 
in the form of types, symbols, visions, or plain declarations. 

The position of the Tabernacle in the Jewish system of wor- 
ship renders it an object of no small importance.- Being the centre 
of the Hebrew ritual, our view of the genius and scope of the 
Mosaic economy depends essentially upon our idea of its forms, its 
uses, and its ends. And though in the present stage, which is at 
best only the middle stage of the unfoldings of the Divine mind to 
man, we may not be able to take in the entire reach of meaning 
which is couched under this significant structure ; yet, much may 
be obtained by giving it its due attention which should interest and 
edify us. 

When speaking of the Tabernacle, it is well for us to bear in 
mind that it was a thing of Divine devising. The whole plan of it 
was a matter of revelation. The Lord exhibited to Moses on Mt. 
Sinai a pattern^ exactly like which he solemnly enjoined the pro- 
phet to make and arrange everytliing concerning it. So that what- 
ever the symbolic import of the Tabernacle and its furniture was, 
it is to be regarded as just as much the mind of God as the pre- 
cepts which his own fingers WTOte on the tables of the decalogue. 

The Tabernacle consisted of three apartments, each of which 
was designed for a particular purpose in the Jewish service, and 
each having its appropriate furniture. The first apartment was the 
court of the Tabernacle. The second, which was within and at 
the one end of the court was the Tabernacle proper. The third, 
in the deepest interior of the Tabernacle was the most holy place, 
or chamber of the Divine presence. 

The court was an uncovered enclosure one hundred and fifty feet 
long by seventy-five feet wide, fenced in by a sort of wall, seven 



LECTURE XX. — CHAPTER IX. 1 5. 



223 



feet and a half high, made of moveable pillars and strong cords, 
stakes, and curtains. This was the space which received the wor- 
shiping- congregation. About the centre of this enclosure, be- 
tween the entrance gate and the Tabernacle proper, was the altar 
of sacrifice. This was a sort of brazen chest seven and a half feet 
square, and four feet and a half higli, with horns or projections at 
the corners. Of this altar the Lord said, " Seven days shalt thou 
make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it ; and it shall be an 
altar most holy : whatsoever toucheth it shall become holy.'' No 
peace or pardon could be secured according to the Mosaic law, 
but tiirough the use of this altar. It w'as evidently intended to 
prefigure the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of the 
world. Its sole sufficiency, its nature, and its infinite merit are 
here distinctly represented. 

Betu'een this altar and the tabernacle proper was the brazen 
laver. This w^as a large and magnificent vessel filled with water 
for the use of priests when conducting the sacrificial ceremonies. 
The doctrine which it symbolized is the necessity of moral purity. 
Its position was between the altar and the sanctuary as an interme- 
diate something which had an important relation to the entrance 
within tiie outer veil. The priest on his way from the altar to the 
Tabernacle was arrested by it, and summoned to pause and first 
attend to the requisite personal cleansings. Thus showing that 
there is no entering into the church of Christ or kingdom of hea- 
ven without a previous washing in the laver of regeneration. The 
altar set forth the way oi justification^ the laver the way of sane- 
tification. The one typified the pardon of sin, the other salvation 
from the pollution of sin. 

The Tabernacle proper was a splendid structure of an oblong 
rectangular form, forty-five, feet long, fifteen broad, and fifteen 
high. The two sides and western end of it were made of boards 
of a very beautiful and substantial wood overlaid with gold, and 
fixed in solid sockets of silver. They were secured by bars over- 
laid with gold, and passing through rings of gold which were fixed 
to the boards. It was covered with four layers or covering of 
different materials and workmanship. The inner covering was 
made of fine linen magnificently embroidered with cherubic figures 
in shades of blue, purple, and scarlet, forming a most beautiful ceil- 
iivr. The enti'ance at the east end was inclosed with a rich cur- 



224 



LECTURE XX. — CHAPTER IX. 1 — 5. 



tain suspended from the golden pillars. As has been intimated, 
this glorious pavilion was divided into two apartments. The first 
was the holy place, or sanctuary. This consisted of about two- 
thirds the space of the Tabernacle, and was divided from the other 
part by four golden pillars and a veil. This was called the second 
veil, and is the one which was rent at the crucifixion of Christ. 

" The first wherein was the candlestick." By the first Taher- 
nacle here, the apostle means the first apartment of the Tabernacle 
proper — the Sanctuary or holy place. The first object among the 
furniture of this room to which he directs attention, is the caiidle- 
stick. It is well to observe that the Tabernacle had no windows, 
and candles were needed for light. The candlestick of the Sanc- 
tuary was a magnificent stand for lamps made of gold. It consis- 
ted of a central perpendicular beam with a lamp on the top, and 
three arms coming out on each side of this beam opposite each 
other, and extending up to a level with the top of the centre lamp. 
Each of these arms also bore a lamp; so that there were in all 
seven lamps, and hence is sometimes spoken of as "the seven gol- 
den candlesticks." 

The typical allusion of this candlestick and its light, was to the 
christian church and its ministry. John was commanded to write 
by way of interpretation of these mystic symbols, " The seven 
stars (lights) are the angels (ministers) of the seven churches ; and 
the seven candlesticks are the seven churches." (Rev. i. 20.) 
The number seven is frequently used to denote an indefinite num- 
ber. It is here a number of universality ; it stands as the repre- 
sentative of the whole. The seven material lights of the Taber- 
nacle, represented the spiritual lights of the entire church ; the 
pure olive oil which fed them typified the Holy Ghost ; and the 
candlestick with its seven branches, was the symbol of the univer- 
sal church, spread abroad as it is through diversified apartments 
and numerous particular congregations. 

The next thing in the Sanctuary to which the text directs our 
attention, is the table and the shew-bread." This table was a " 
stand three feet by a foot and a half in size, overlaid with gold, 
and ornamented with a crown or rim of pure gold. The shew- 
breadj or bread of the presence, was unleavened bread made into 
twelve loaves of equal size, and laid up in two piles on this table 
with thin plates of gold between the loaves. These piles were 



LECTURE XX. — CHAPTER IX. 1 5. 



225 



renewed every Sabbath. This was very likely intended to repre- 
sent the same fact of the Eucharist of the christian church. It 
symbolized that sustenance and bread of heaven which maintains 
the inner, higher, and eternal life of believers. The New Testa- 
ment abounds in allusions to " the true bread from heaven'' — "the 
bread of Ood"— ^' the living bread" — "the bread of life" which 
nourishes the soul. And it is reasonable to suppose that the mys- 
tery of the table of shew-bread was intended as a sensible and 
lively, though inadequate shew of that nourishment of the holy, 
hidden, spiritual life of the new-born soul, which is the great bless- 
ing of the gospel. 

A third particular among the furniture "of the Sanctuary, was 
the altar of incense^ or the golden altar as distinguished from the 
brazen altar of the court. This was a small table a foot and a 
half square, covered with plates of pure gold. At each of its 
four corners there was a little horn. Its top was ornamented with 
a crown or rim of gold. It was placed facing the table of shew- 
bread, and was used every morning and evening by the officiating 
priest, who burnt upon it a composition of spices. This altar was 
also to be sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifices. 

The general symbolic import of incense is prayer. It is writteti 
in Revelations, " the elders fell down before the Lamb, having' ev- 
ery one of them lamps and golden vials full of odors, which are the 
prayers of saints." Again, " And another angel came and stood at 
the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him 
much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints.'' 
It was customary too, while the priest burnt incense on the altar 
for all the people to be at prayer. (Luke i. 9, 10.) We see then 
that the burning of incense and prayer are associated as one idea. 
We may then consider the incense of the golden altar to symbolize 
the devotions of t'he saints, and particularly their prayers for the 
speedy accomplishment of those glorious things to which prophecy 
directs their hopes. 

We come now to the utmost interior of the Tabernacle. " And 
after the second vail, the Tabernacle which was called the Holiest 
of all." This was the very foundation, heart, root, and marrow of 
the Levitical service. It was an apartment filled with objects of 
awful grandeur. 

The first to which the apostle directs attention, is " the golden 
16 



LECTURE XX. CHAPTER IX. 1—5* 



censer." This was a fire -vessel, the size and form of which we 
know nothing about. Moses says nothing respecting it as belong- 
ing to the furniture of the most holy place. That it was used in 
the services of the most holy place we learn from the following pas- 
sage, " And he (the high priest) shall take a censer full of living 
coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, (the golden altar,) 
and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it with- 
in the veil : and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the 
Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy-seat that is 
upon the testimony." This service occurred just as the high priest 
was about to enter the holy of holies with the blood of atonement. 
That it had a typical meaning there is no doubt ; though there is 
some difficulty in determining what it is. It may have been intend- 
ed to symbolize the earnest prayers with which Christ prepared 
himself for his entrance into heaven to atone for us. But it is like- 
ly that it refers to something yet future in the wonderful processes 
of the work of human redemption ; probably to some terms of the 
christian's final admission into the full fruition of glory. 

The second object in the holy of holies mentioned by the apos- 
tle, is " the Ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, 
wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that 
budded, and the tables of the covenant." 

The Ark was a small chest or coffer three feet nine inches in 
length, by two feet three inches in breadth and depth. It was made 
of a solid wood, and overlaid within and without with gold. Around 
the top of it was a rim or cornice of solid gold. And on each side 
were fixed rings of gold to receive golden rods by which it was 
carried. It had a lid or cover of solid gold which dropped within 
the rim. This was called the Mercy-seat. 

The Ark contained, according to the text, 1st. " The golden pot 
of manna." It is recorded in Exodus, that " Moses said unto Aaron, 
take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up be- 
fore the Lord, to be kept for your generations. And as the Lord 
commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be 
kept." The object of this was to preserve a remembrancer of 
God's goodness and miraculous power in keeping them alive in the 
barren wilderness. 

2nd. The ark also contained " Aaron's rod that budded." There 
is an instance on record in which the Hebrews in the wilderness 



LECTURE XX.— CHAPTER IX. 1 5. 



227 



rebelled against their leaders, and denounced the superior official 
rank of Aaron the high priest. To show them that Aaron was his 
chosen one, in addition to the awful and miraculous judgments 
which he sent upon them, the Lord directed that each tribe should 
present a rod with the name of its ancestry written on it — that these 
rods should be laid up before the Testimony — declaring that the 
one that blossomed should designate the tribe which he had elected 
to the priesthood. " And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, 
and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each 
prince one, according to their father's houses; even twelve rods : 
and the rod of Aaron vv^as among the rods. And Moses laid up the 
rods before the Lord in the Tabernacle of witness. And it came to 
pass that on the morrow Moses went into the Tabernacle of wit- 
ness ; and behold the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was bud- 
ded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded 
almonds." This rod was afterwards put up in the Ark, " for a to- 
ken against the rebels," and as a perpetual memorial of Jehovah's 
regard for his institutions. This is the rod to which Paul alludes 
in the text. ' 

3d. But the principal things contained in the Ark, were " the ta- 
bles of the covenant." These were two tables of stone on which 
were written the ten commandments. They w^ere received by Mo- 
ses from the hand of the Lord on Mount Sinai. They were the 
first things put into the Ark, were all that it originally contained, 
and were constantly kept in it, even after its transfer from the Tab- 
ernacle to the Temple. 

Over the Ark of the Testimony, and attached to the lid of it, 
were also " cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat," to which 
Paul alludes as a third object found in the holy of holies. The pre- 
cise form of these cherubim has not been made known to us. Nor 
is it certain that all the cherubim spoken of in Scripture were of the 
same form. (See Ez. viii. 1—3, &c.) All that we know concern- 
ing those attached to the Ark may be learned from the command 
given to Moses, " And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold, of 
beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy- 
seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub 
on the other end : even of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cheru- 
bim on the two ends thereof And the cherubim shall stretch forth 
their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and 



22S 



LECTURE XX. — CHAPTER IX. 1 — 5. 



their faces shall look toward the mercy-seat : toward the mercy- 
seat shall the faces of the cherubim be." 

In reference to the space between these two cherubs, Jehovah 
promises, " And there will I meet with thee, and I will commune 
with thee from about the mercy-seat, from between the cherubim 
which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all the things which I 
will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." After 
the Tabernacle was completed, and the Ark prepared and put in 
its place, this was remarkably fulfilled. The God of Israel mani- 
fested himself visibly upon the mercy-seat between the cherubim in 
the form of a fiery cloud. The record says, " A cloud covered the 
tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tab- 
ernacle." It is in allusion to this fact, that we so often read of God 
^'dwelling between the cherubim." 

Looking then at the Ark, with its appendages, its contents, and 
its place of deposit, as thus described, we have symbolically set be- 
fore us several important facts. 1st. We here see God's high re- 
gard for his holy law. It seems to be the principal object — the 
most awful object — the thing of most intense regard of all the won- 
derful representations of the holy of holies. Laid up in a golden 
chest — deposited in the deepest and holiest recess of the most holy 
Tabernacle and Temple — covered and watched by mighty cheru- 
bim — overshadowed with the dazzling presence of the supreme Di- 
vinity — and to be approached only by the most sanctified member 
of the priesthood, and that but once a year with great fear and trem- 
bling, we may well learn to regard it with reverence and awe. 
How could Jehovah have said in more significant terms, This law 
is holy and must be maintained. Till heaven and earth pass away, 
one jot, or one tittle shall in no way pass from the law till all be 
fulfilled." It was originally delivered amid thunder, and smoke, 
and trumpet-sounds waxing louder and louder, and other exhibitions 
of terror and grandeur which drove back the whole camp of Israel 
in dismay. But who is able to convey an idea of that holy rever- 
ence and sublime awe with which it lay in the Ark in the holy of 
holies. Behold it reposing in the glory of its adorable Divinity ! 
Surely nothing shall ever be permitted to tarnish so sacred an in- 
strument. Surely no scheme of mercy shall be tolerated which 
leaves the slightest stain upon its honor. 

2nd. But we have here not only God's regard for his law, but also 



LECTURE XX. — CHAPTER IX. 1 — 5. 



229 



that there is mercy for those who have transgressed it. Over " the 
tables of the covenant" there was placed a mercy-seat. The law 
retains all its honor and all its force — ^it cries in the same uncom- 
promising tones for blood, blood by way of satisfaction for its vio- 
lated precepts — it thunders out the same tremendous woes against 
those who even in thought venture to touch its awful authority ; 
but the bow of mercy spans the dark cloud of its frown. The an- 
cient believer saw in those symbols a foundation for hope. It was 
here shown him that in some way " mercy and truth had met to- 
gether, and righteousness and peace embraced each other." By 
these dread symbols he heard the voice of gracious invitation above 
the roar of wrathful denunciation, and saw the dawn of the day of 
salvation bursting upon the night of despair. 

As to the particular symbolic import of " the cherubim of glory 
shadowing the mercy-seat," and what class of beings they weie in- 
tended to represent, there has been much speculation and contro- 
versy. Some have with great ability attempted to prove that they 
were intended to represent the spirits of the saints in glory. Others 
with no less learning and ingenuity have contended that they 
denoted the holy angels. That they were in some respects conso- 
nant with what is revealed of the angels is very clear. The angels 
usually appeared as \dnged messengers ; and wings were a striking 
appendage of the cherubim. Angels are represented as an order 
of beings who dwell continually Jn the Divine presence ; and the 
cherubim were in close contact with the Shekinah in the holy of 
holies. Angels are exhibited as being interested in the worship 
and ordinances of the church, and by some as being present in the 
assemblies of the saints ; and so the cherubim were set upon the 
Ark, and in the Temple were sculptured on the walls, and wrought 
in all the curtains and veils, as deeply interested witnesses of all the 
ceremonies of worship. 

But it is not to be supposed that any one will regard this as suf- 
ficient proof of their identity. 

Besides, the cherubim on the Ark are represented as so much 
concerned in the work of salvation as to depend upon it for their 
position in the most holy place, and for their very existence. They 
were indissolubly connected with the mercy-seat, and permanently 
fixed on it. This was a point of particular direction by the Lord, 
Now with all our respect for the interest which angels take in the 



230 



LECTURE XX. CHAPTER IX. 1 5. 



plan of redemption, it is very far from our thoughts to assign to 
them any dependence upon it for their standing and happiness in the 
Divine economy. They would have been in glory, holy and happy 
as now, though the plan of human redemption had never been di- 
vised. It is then rather the position of ransomed men than of holy 
angels, that was prefigured by the cherubim on the mercy-seat. 

The language of the cherubim^ as given by John in his vision 
(Rev. V. — ) is such as cannot be ascribed to the angels. " And 
they song a new song, saying. Thou art worthy to take the book, 
and to open the seals thereof : for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed 
us to God by thy hlood?'' Is this the song of angels ? 

" Never did angels taste above, Redeeming grace, and dying iove !" 

This is a theme of delight which employs the tongues and expands 
the hearts of redeemed men — a source of superlative joy only to 
the saints. 

I am disposed then to conclude with a brilliant writer, " that the 
cherubic symbol, in its ultimate scope, pointed forward to that con- 
dition of regenerate, redeemed, risen, and glorified men, when they 
shall have assumed an angelic nature." ^ That they will assume 
the nature of angels in their post-resurrection state is most unques- 
tionably taught in the Bible. (Mark xii. 25. Luke xx. 36. Rev. 
xxii. 9.) That the holy of holies was designed to represent the 
final state of the ransomed, and the great fact of the residence of 
God among them, is also justly inferable from a number of consid- 
erations. The Jews always and universally considered it a type of 
heaven. It is several times called heaven in the Scriptures. (2 
Chron. vii. 1, 2. Rev. iv. 1.) And the whole drift and scope of 
the Tabernacle and its ordinances, as symbols, afford strong pre- 
sumptive evidence of the fact. In this view again we are led to 
regard the cherubim on the Ark as representatives of men. 

If it be objected to this view, that cherubim were placed as 
guards at the east end of the garden of Eden, to keep the way of 
the tree of life, even before there were any ransomed saints ; I re- 
ply as the most reasonable interpretation of that matter, that these 
were also symbolic figures placed by the tree of life to prevent 
Adam from partaking, but at the same time representing his ran- 

'That the hymning beasts were cherubim, appears from their answering to the dig- 
cription of the living creatures of Ezekiel, which he says were cherubim. 

^B,ushV Notes on Exodus. Vol. 2, p. 99. 



LECTURE XX. — CHAPTER IX, 1 — 5. 



231 



somed seed as in the kingdom of glory they stand by it and eat of 
its blessed fruit through the purchased grant of the Son of God. 
They here have the same symbolic meaning as in the holy of holies. 

We may then learn from " the cherubim of glory shadowing the 
mercy-seat," 1st. That our salvation is all of grace. They were 
supported solely and entirely by the mercy-seat. Grace first con- 
ceived the thought of our salvation — grace devised and has thus 
far carried on the plan — and when the topstone is laid in glory, it 
shall be with shoutings " Grace, grace unto it." It is by mercy 
that we are first called by the Gospel — it is on grounds of mercy 
that' we shall be able to stand in the day of judgment — and redeem- 
ing mercy shall be the burden of our songs forever and ever. 

2d. We may here learn something of the glory of the christian's 
immortal destiny. The cherubim stood in the immediate presence — ■ 
the visible presence of God. This is one of the great promises of 
the Gospel — " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God." It is a matter of great consolation that we are now the sons 
of God ; but we yet have the blessed hope, that when he shall ap- 
pear we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Yea, 
in our flesh — our renovated and etherialized flesh we shall see God. 
As children conscious of a father's love, we shall gaze upon the 
face of Divinity— bask in his presence without shrinking from the 
supreme etfulgence — and dwell with Godj which is the consumma- 
tion of all happiness. 

As to our eniployment in the bright world to which we hope to - 
come, this is prefigured by the faces of the cherubim being turned 
inwards as if gazing on the mercy-seat. Redemption is to be the 
great subject of study, admiration and song forever and ever. The 
noblest of our ransomed powers shall find ample scope in the in- 
vestigation of its mysteries, our loftiest notes shall be called into 
requisition to set forth its praises, and the last harp that remains to 
be struck in the remotest ages of eternity, shall yet find redeeming 
love the holiest of themes — the greatest of wonders. 

From what has now been said of the Tabernacle of Moses and 
its furniture, we behold in it a symbolic history of the whole scheme 
of salvation, from its first unfoldings in the deeds of Jesus Christ 
to its final consummation in glory. In its three apartments we see 
the three grand conditions of man— his natural state — his christian 
state — and his post-resurrection or glorified state. 



2S2 



LECTURE XX. CHAPTER IX. 1—5. 



The court of the Tahernacle is where the Jewish people all ap- 
peared as sinners. Here was the brazen altar at which they ac- 
knowledged their g-iiiltiness by the presentation of their sacrifices. 
It is in this sinful condition that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ finds 
the whole race of Adam. Like the Jewish sacrifices which pre- 
figured it, it was made in the midst of those for whose benefit it 
was intended. By believing in and relying on the efficacy of this 
sacrifice the sinner is passed over into a christian state. In the way 
of this transition, like the Jewish priest on his way to the Sanctu- 
ary, he is regenerated — washed from the pollution of sin — and in- 
spired with a new life. 

The symbolic Sanctuary of the Tabernacle, or the church now 
becomes his place of abode. Here he finds himself surrounded 
and edified by the light — denoted by the candlesticks, by the nour- 
ishment — denoted by the table of shew-bred, and the hope — denoted 
by the altar of incense,^ of the christian economy. Here his spiri- 
tual life is strengthened and expanded, and his soul inured to sacred 
society, discipline and employments, and prepared to enter into that 
better state which was prefigured by the holy of holies. 

Passing through the veil of death, he now takes the place of the 
cherubic figures on the Ark. The glorious presence of God over- 
shadows him — light ineffable glows upon his countenance — and with 
countless multitudes of the ransomed he joins in the mighty — the 
endless song, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb !" 

A subject like this, my brethren, needs no further application. 
The whole bearing of it is so obvious, that you need no help from 
me to be able to bring it down to your wants and feelings. I shall 
make but one simple remark more, and then leave the matter for 
your own private meditation. 

You doubtless all are looking forward with some expectation of 
sharing in the joys of that happy world which was represented by 
the holy of holies in the Tabernacle. It is that hope which com- 
forts you amid all the reverses of earthly fortune, and the only thing 

which saves you from utter despair as you anticipate the tomb. But 
there is but one way, aud I mention this solemn fact for the parti« 
cular benefit of those who are not members of the christian church, 

'Incense eytnbolizes prayer; but when we pray for an object, we always hope to 
receive it. The great object of christian prayer and hope is the kingdom of Christ, 



LECTURE XX. — CHAPTER IX. 1 5. 



233 



there is but one way in which this hope is ever to be realized. 
There was no entrance into the holy of holies but through the 
Sanctuary. And my dear impenitent friends, there is no possible 
way for you to enter heaven, but through the church of the Re- 
deemer. Talk not now of the heathen, you are no heathen, I say, 
for you there is no possible way to enter heaven but through the 
church of the Redeemer. You may think it an awful doctrine ; 
but it is the truth of God. Unless you become real members of 
the church, and thus become united to its saving head, there is no 
salvation for you. Oh, that your hearts then may be inclined to 
confess Jesus on earth, that he also may confess you before his 
Father and his holy angels ! But how distressing is the thought, 
that so many with whom our worldly associations and intercourse 
are of the most delightful character, should consent to remain in a 
situation so entirely hopeless as respects the endless state of being 
into which we are all soon to enter ! When we look forward to 
the day of judgment, and the awful scenes that are to succeed it, 
what an intolerable burden does it impose upon our hearts ! I ap- 
peal to you then, by the ties of tender relationships — by the dread- 
ful separations at the bar of final reckoning — by the endless wail- 
ings of the unhappy damned — make haste to enter the ark of salva- 
tion—attach yourselves at once to the camp of Israel — and be zeal- 
ous to secure your title to the promised rest. 



LECTURE XXI. 



THE SERVICES OF THE TABERNACLE. 

Heb. ix. 6 — 10. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went 
always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the 
second, loent the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he 
offered for himself, and/or the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signi- 
fying") that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the 
first tabernacle was yet standing : Which was a figure for the time llien present, 
in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did 
the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience : Which stood only in meats and 
drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on ihem until the time 
of reformation. 

In the foregoing Lecture your attention was called to the Tab- 
ernacle — its forms, its furniture, and its entire arrangement. The 
words now before us will necessarily lead me to speak of the ser- 
vices of the Tabernacle. In doing so I propose to myself first, to 
give you a general view of them ; second, to show the design of 
them ; and third, to find out their real efficacy, and wherein it con- 
sisted. I agree that there are other subjects which some of you 
might relish more than this, but I contend at the same time, that if 
you enter into its consideration with a prayerful and inquiring mind, 
none of you will entirely fail to be instructed and edified. 

The services of the Tabernacle, (and of the Temple, for the 
Temple was made after the pattern of the Tabernacle,) are distin- 
guished as they were performed by the ordinary priests, or by the 
high priest alone. This is a distinction noticed in the text; but it 
is one^ though important to be observed, which is not adequate to a 
clear and full exhibition of the Jewish ritual. There is however, 
another general division recognized, by the apostle, which will 
much more conveniently serve us on the present occasion. There 
were parts of the Mosaic rites which related immediately to God 
as their object, and there were other parts which related imme- 
diately to man as their object. And though a reference is had in 
all of them to both God and man, this may yet be received as a 
correct and convenient distinction. The first embraced " gifts and 
sacrifices;" the second embraced "meats and drinks, and divers 
washings, and carnal ordinances." 



LECTURE XXI. CHAPTER IX. 6 — 10. 



235 



1st. The gifts or oblations were ordinary — voluntary— and pre- 
scribed. 

The ordinary oblations were the sheiv-bread, and incense. Of 
these I had occasion to speak in the last discourse, and need add 
nothing more here. 

The voluntary oblations were things freely vowed and consecra- 
ted to sacred uses, comprising all sorts of property, influence, chil- 
dren, time, and sometimes life itself. 

The prescribed oblations were the first-fruits and tlie tithes. The 
former consisted of a portion of all grain, fruit, and animals, which 
the law required to be consecrated to the Lord. The latter con- 
sisted of the tenth part of the entire possessions of each Jew each 
year, which was given for the support of the priesthood. 

2nd. The sacrifices were some of them bloody in their nature, 
the rest were not attended with the shedding of blood. Some of 
them were occasional and individual, others were national and 
regular. 

The bloody sacrifices were either holocausts or burnt-offerings, 
peace-offerings, sin-offerings, or trespass-offerings. These again 
ran out into various diversities which we cannot now stop to ex- 
amine. 

The unbloody sacrifices were taken solely from the vegetable 
kingdom. "They consisted of meal, bread, cakes, ears of corn, 
and parcbed grain, with oil and frankincense prepared according 
to the Divine command. Regularly they could not be presented as 
sin-offerings, except in the single case of the person who had sin- 
ned being so poor, that the offering of two young pigeons or two 
turtle-doves exceeded his means."^ 

Passing on to those of the Jewish ceremonies which related im- 
mediately to nian as their object, we have enumerated by the apos- 
tle 1st '■^meats and drinks.''^ A large part of the Mosaic ordinances 
consisted of laws respecting fasts, and pertaining to what was law- 
ful to eat and drink. The law was full of very nice distinctions 
between clean and unclean beasts, and minute arrangements con- 
cerning the food and drink of the Jews. This is probably what 
the apostle means by " meats and drinks." 

2d. The Jewish services also comprehended " divers washings.'''^ 
Bodily uncleanness was held by the Hebrews in just abhorrence. 

> Home's Introduction, Vol. II. page 119. 



236 



LECTURE XXI. — CHAPTER IX. 6 10. 



And though not in all instances held as criminal, yet all contamina-' 
tions resulted in temporary exclusion from intercourse with the rest 
of the people. When the days of the uncleanness of defiled per- 
sons were fulfilled, the ritual prescribed for them certain ceremo- 
nies of purification to be attended to previous to their reinstatement 
into pure society. 

Besides these there were various other lustrations and ablutions 
in the services of the tabernacle — some at the consecration of the 
priests — some in the sacrificial ceremonies — and in numerous other 
instances. 

These purifications were for the most part performed with clear 
running water, sometimes with blood or oil, and occasionally with 
mingled water and blood, or water sprinkled with ashes. Some- 
times the whole body was immersed in the water, sometimes the 
water was poured upon or otherwise applied to the body. These 
were the " divers baptisms" to which Paul refers in the text. 

3d. There were also in the Hebrew ritual " divers carnal ordi- 
nances''^ — ceremonies pertaining to the flesh — rites of a mere exter- 
nal application. There were many things in the services of the 
Tabernacle which centered ultimately and solely in the body, the 
whole significance of which was temporal and carnal. Their en- 
tire advantage and effect as well as their observance concerned the 
flesh. And with this view of the Levitical services before us, we 
may see the reasonableness and force of the apostolic declaration, 

that they could not make him that did the service perfect, as per- 
taining to the conscience." , ' ; 

We naturally come then to inquire into the real design of these 
enactments. That they were of Divine appointment is not to be 
questioned. What then was the object of their institution } What 
ends were they intended to subserve ? Wherein are we to find a 
policy worthy of their infinite Author ? By Divine help I will 
answer these questions. 

The Mosaic dispensation taken as a whole, in its moral, ceremo- 
nial, and judicial aspects, was a regular system complete in itself, 
and which accomplished various important purposes. The grand 
design of its institution was the fulfillment of the promise made in 
the garden of Eden, and repeated to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
concerning the recovery of man from his fall. In the accomplish- 
ment of this end it played a most brilliant and honorable part. By 



LECTURE XXI. — CHAPTER IX. 6 — 10. 



237 



it the knov\"]edo-e and worship of the true God was preserved, and 
the wonderful plan of human redemption graduaUy unfolded. By 
it the way for the coming of the kingdom of God was prepared, 
and a better hope ushered in upon our despairing world. 

In this the ceremonial law had not a little to do. 1st. It was the 
ritual observances which were most efficient in keeping the Jews 
together as a distinct and peculiar people. We may plainly trace 
up a studied opposition in all of them to the views and religious 
practices of all other nations. Most of the animals which were 
deified by the heathen were proscribed as unclean to the Jews. 
Those used most commonly for food by other nations were not even 
to be touched by the children of Israel lest they should become de- 
filed. And so entirely contrary to the common usages of the na- 
tions were the Levitical ordinances, that it was not possible for a 
Jew to associate with them with any sort of familiarity. The cere- 
monial law drew a line around the camp of Israel, and around the 
Land of Canaan, w^hich none witliin dared to cross without forfeit- 
ing every advantage which the Jewish religion held out. The con- 
scientious Jew saw nothing in all the rites of heathen worship but 
abomination and uncleanness, and in many of his religious observ- 
ances he outraged soQie of the most devout feelings of his idola- 
trous neighbors. 

The tendency of such an institution is obvious. Just as Jehovah 
intended that it should, it separated the Jews from all other nations 
by the most impregnable of barriers. It severed them from other 
people so effectually, that no national or private intercourse, no po- 
litical subjugation, no considerations of any sort were able to effect 
an amalgamation. It was the great instrument, the efficient work- 
ing of which, more than anything else, brought about that astonish- 
ing national consolidation of the Jewish people which said to \he 
uncircumcised — " Stand off, for I am holier than thou.'' 

2d. The ceremonial law was also of essential service in impress- 
ing and preserving right views of the Divine character — his holi- 
ness — his justice — his mercy. As a God of power, wisdom, and 
benevolence, Jehovali was known from the ioundation of the world, 
The wide spread earth and all that it contains, with its star spangled 
canopy held up these attributes to the view of men from age to age. 
None could entirely evade their presence, none failed to feel their 
power. The living exemplification of them v/as everywhere seen. 



238 



LECTURE XXI. CHAPTER IX. 6 10. 



Not so liovvever, with the attributes of holiness, justice, and mercy. 
Though they had been partially and abstractly revealed, there was 
not an object in the material universe w^hich exeniplified them, or 
set them before the mind in a tangible form. In the ceremonial law 
a medium was found to convey to the minds of the Jews an idea of 
these perfections. It served to exemplify and impress them, as the 
material universe did to exemplify and impress the Divine power^ 
wisdom, and benevolence. 

The holiness or moral purity of God was set forth in the cere- 
monial law. " In the outset, the animals common to Palestine were 
divided by command of Jehovah, into clean and unclean ; in this 
way a distinction was made, and the one class in comparison with 
the other was deemed to be of a purer and better kind. From the 
class thus distinguished, as more pure than the other, one was se- 
lected to offer as a sacrifice. It was not only to be chosen from the 
clean beasts, but, as an individual, it was to be without spot or blem- 
ish. Thus it was in their eyes purer than the other class, and pu- 
rer than other individuals of its own class. This sacrifice, the peo- 
ple were not deemed worthy, in their own persons, to offer unto 
Jehovah ; but it was to be offered by a class of men who w^ere dis- 
tinguished from their brethren, purified, and set apart for the ser- 
vice of the priests office. Thus the idea of purity originated from 
two sources; the purified priest and the pure ammd\ purified^ were 
united in the offering of the sacrifice. But before the sacrifice could 
be offered, it was washed with clean water — and the priest had in 
some cases to wash himself, and officiate without his sandals. Thus, 
when one process of comparison after another had attached the idea 
of superlative purity to the sacrifice — in offering it to Jehovah, in " 
order that the contrast between the purity of God and the highest 
degrees of earthly purity might be seen, neither priest, people, nor 
sacrifice was deemed suflicientlj^ pure to come into his presence ; 
but the offering was made in the court without the holy of holies. 
In this manner, by a process of comparison, the character of God 
in point of purity, was placed indefinitely above themselves and 
their sacrifices. 

" And not only in the sacrifices, but throughout the v\^hole Le- 
vitical economy, the idea of purity pervaded all its ceremonies and 
observances. The camp was purified — the people were purified — 
everything was purified and re-purified ; and each process of the 



LECTURE XXI. CHAPTER IX. 6 — 10. 



239 



ordinances was designed to reflect purity upon the others ; until 
finally that idea formed in the mind and rendered intense by the 
convergence of so many rays, was by comparison, referred to the 
idea of God — and the idea of God in their minds, being that of an 
infinitely powerful and good Spirit, hence purity as a characteris- 
tic or attribute of such a nature, would necessarily assume a moral 
aspect, because it appertained to a moral being — it would become 
moral purity^ or holiness. Thus they learned, in the sentiment of 
Scripture, that God was of too pure eyes to look upon iniquity." ^ 

The justice of^ God was set forth in the ceremonial law. Justice 
is that attribute of the Divine character which determines his op- 
position to sin. The only way conceivable in which this opposi- 
tion to sin can be exhibited is by the penalty to be inflicted upon 
the transgressor. A law-giver maybe just, but we can have 'no 
proof of it until we see it in the penalties of his laws. In accord- 
ance with this constitution of things, the sacrificial rites of the Tab- 
ernacle constantly and most significantly set before the Jewish mind 
the fearful penalties for transgression. It was ihe business of each 
violator of the law to bring a sacrifice, and deliver it to the priest 
to be slain. He was then to lay his hands upon its head, confess 
his crime, and thus by a form well understood to transfer to it his 
sins. The life of the sacrifice was then taken as a substitute for 
his own life. The ceremony and signification was the same in near- 
ly all the bloody oflerings. And while the sinner stood praying in 
the outer court, and beheld the dark volume of smoke ascending 
from the fire that consumed the sacrifice which was burning in his 
stead, he saw God's deep hatred of, and uncompromising opposition 
to sin in a light most terrible. He saw there that death was the 
very lightest penalty which Jehovah purposed to inflict upon the 
perpetrator of the slightest oflense against him. He there read in 
symbols as significant as the flames and thunders of hell itself, that 
" God \sjust^ and will by no means clear the guilty." 

The mercy of God was also set forth in the ceremonial law. Mer- 
cy is that form of goodness which commiserates the suffering, and 
prompts to effort for their relief. It is plainly discernable in all the 
services of the Tabernacle. Though the rigid justice of God shone 
forth most prominently, yet the Jewish worshiper saw that God 
through them was to be rendered propitious, and that in view of the 

' See " Philosophy of the plan of Salvation," page "5. 



240 



LECTURE XXI. — CHAPTER IX. 6 — 10. 



sacrifices offered, God was disposed to administer pardon to the 
guilty. In the services as well as the furniture of the Tabernacle, 
he saw that there was forg-ireness with the Almighty. They rep- 
resented to him a plan of salvation — a foundation for his hopes. — • 
Such then was the service of the ceremonial law in impressing and 
preserving right views of the Divine character. 

3d. But it had another object— a great^ — a blessed object. It was 
to prefigure Christ, and redemption through h'm blood. Some wri- 
ters in theology have ventured to question the typical nature of the 
ceremonial law ; but it seems to me that they have in this manifest- 
ed no little disregard to the plain language of the Holy Ghost, 
and no little unfairness in the management of argument. Nothing 
can be more explicit than the apostolic declaration, that these or- 
dinances were shadows of good things to come. I have said that 
they are again and again called " patterns" — "figures" — "types" 
and " shadows." And it was altogether to be expected, that in an 
economy like that of the Jews something of a moral significance 
should attach to their bloody ordinances, and that something of the 
blessed Gospel should be exhibited to them even before its literal 
proclamation. But how this could be without giving to the services 
of the Tabernacle a typical character, I am totally unable to con- 
ceive. I lay it down then as a correct position, that the ceremonial 
law represented to the ancient Jews all the most prominent and im- 
portant doctrines of the Gospel, and that this is one of the great 
ends for which it was designed. 

It will be necessary for us in the next Lecture to take up the com- 
parison between the aflfairs pertaining to the Levitical priesthood, 
and those pertaining to the christian ; and to inquire into their rela- 
tive value. That will bring up sulficiently to our view the points 
of resemblance between the services of the Tabernacle, and the 
mediatorial services of Jesus Christ. With such a prospect before 
us, I will dispense with several remarks which w^ould otherw^ise be 
important in this connection. 

We come then in the third place, to inquire into the real efficacy 
of the Tabernacle services, and wherein it consisted. The text 
affirms that they " could not make him that did the service perfect, 
as pertaining to the conscience." I do not conceive that we are to 
understand by this, that they were totally destitute of efficacy, or 
that they possessed in their typical relation no moral virtue. The 



LfiCTlJRS XXt. — CflA^TER tX. 6 — 10. 



241 



apostle in the 15th verse plainly declares that they had efficacy. 
The meaning is, that they were Unable of themselves "to render 
the mind of the worshiper secure of pardon for sin, and to produce 
that quiet which was connected with a well grounded persuasion 
of this, and that moral purification which must accompany it."^ I 
believe that the devout Jews did receive salvation^ real — complete 
salvation, by their attention to the Mosaic ritual. But their salva- 
tion was not procured purely by the virtue of these services ; it Was 
imparted only in view of that great work of mediation which they 
typified. Irrespective of what Christ did and suffered, there was 
no sort of power in them to procure the remission of sins. They 
were only efficacious as means of bringing truth to bear upon the heart 
and life. Their whole virtue in reference to the Jews rested in 
' their adaptedness to teach those truths essential to salvation, and 
their power to impress them upon the heart. This is the true test 
by which their efficacy is to be tried. 

For men to worship God intelligently in any way, it is necessary 
that they have some clear idea of his character. The way in which 
the ceremonial law exhibited the holiness, justice, and mercy of 
God I have just pointed out. It held up these views of the Divine 
character in a manner more striking and impressive than anything 
else in the world. 

It is further requisite for the intelligent worshiper to have a clear 
understanding of his own character and relations. He must see his 
obligation to serve God. He must feel his disease before he will 
see his need of a physician. He must be conscious of his guilt and 
pollution before he can desire forgiveness and renovation. And he 
must then have some conception of the way in which he is to be 
pardoned and cleansed before he can feel quiet on the subject of 
his salvation. In meeting these necessities the ceremonial law was 
peculiarly efficacious. It not only told him in cold words that such 
was his character and condition, but it enacted the whole thing be- 
fore his eyes. The oblations reminded him continually of his entire 
dependence upon God, and his consequent obligations to serve him. 
The sacrifices and washings set before him his guilt and pollution, 
and the way in which he w^as to be pardoned and cleansed. And 
these were daily— monthly — and yearly repeated. Nor can I con- 

' Stuart in loc. 



17 



LECTURE XXI. — CHAPTER IX. 6 lO. 



ceive of a way. which in that age and stage of society, could have 
so effectually impressed these truths upon his mind. 

All the local and particular privileges and disabilities — promises 
and penalties of the law, exemplified those more general and sig- 
nificant truths relating to the spiritual interests of the entire world. 
The legal sacrifices, and their delivery of tjie offender from tempo- 
ral death and the danger of being cut off from the congregation, de- 
noted the redemption of Jesus Christ, and those invaluable privile- 
ges of life and blessedness which he has purchased for sinners. That 
temporal death which the law denounced, denoted that everlasting 
punishment to wdiich the finally impenitent are exposed. And the 
outward admission to the service of the Tabernacle, denoted the 
spiritual privileges of access to God, as well in the present ordi- 
nances of the church, as in the future inheritance of glory. Through 
these symbolic exhibitions, the Jewish worshiper was enabled to 
rise to a conception of the truth sufficiently clear for all the purpo- 
ses of his salvation. It was not the services which saved him ; it 
was God and truth w^orking through these services as subordinate 
means. 

Such then w^ere the services of the Tabernacle — their nature — 
their design — and their efficacy, which were " imposed until the 
time of reformation." The reformation here alluded to, was that 
grand re-modification and re-construction of the church of God made 
by Jesus Christ during his stay on earth. When this grand refor- 
mation took place, the Tabernacle services became obsolete. They 
had then accomplished the whole end for which they w^ere intend- 
ed ; and having become old and decrepid, they vanished into use- 
lessness. Some in their blindness clung to them, and cling to them 
to the present moment ; but the new state of things which the Sa- 
vior introduced, so effectually superceded them, that all their force 
and significance was lost in the spiritual realities of the Gospel. 

From what has now been said of the services of the Tabernacle 
and Temple, w^e may learn first, that God in the institution of or- 
dinances of worship wisely and mercifully adapts them to the con- 
dition and circumstances of those for whose benefit they are intend- 
ed. The idolatrous besetments of the Jews w^ere all carefully pro- 
vided against. The age in which they lived being comparatively 
a rude one, one in which men were not competent to grasp abstract 
ideas without some living exemplification, God wisely made all 



LECTURE XXI. CHAPTER IX. 6 — 10. 



243 



their services of worship the living and distinct representatives of 
all necessary truths. There was nothing essential to their salva- 
tion, which had not an adequate representation in the Jewish sys- 
tem. 

We should also learn from this subject, to be grateful that it is 
our lot to live in that period of the history of man's redemption, 
when it is no more necessary for such burdensome rites as were 
appointed for former ages. The ordinances of worship appointed 
for us, are simple and spiritual. We live to enjoy all the advant- 
ages of that grand reformation effected by Jesus Christ. Let us 
then be grateful for it. Let us be careful to attend well upon all 
those services binding upon us. They are the means appointed for 
our salvation. And Oh, that God may help us to enter into them 
with a becoming spirit, and bring us at last to unite in celebrating 
his praise in that glorious world which is yet to come ! 



LECTURE XXn, 



THE ANCIET^T AND CHRISTIAN? DISPENSATIONS COMPAREI?. 

Heb. ix. 11—28. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by 
a great and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of 
this building ; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he 
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for vs. For 
if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, 
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh : how much more shall the blood of Christ, 
who through the eternal Spirit oiTered himself without spot to God, purge your 
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the 
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of 
the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might 
receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must 
also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after 
men are dead : otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 
Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when 
Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the 
blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprink- 
led both the book, and all the people. Saying, This is the blood of the testament 
which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the 
tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the 
law purged with blood ; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was 
therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified 
with these ; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 
For Chiist is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the 
figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God 
for us ; nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into 
the holy place every year with blood of others ; for then must he often have suf^ 
fered since the foundation of the world : but now once in the end of the wolrd hath 
he appea''ed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed 
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to 
bear the sins of many ; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the se- 
cond time without sin unto salvation. 

I HAVE repeatedly remarked in this course of Lectures, that the 
great purpose of this epistle was, to inspire the Jews with a due 
respect for the Gospel — to preserve those faithful to their profes- 
sion who had embraced it, and to induce those who had not yet ac- 
knowledged Christ's messiahship to do so without delay. In the 
words just read the apostle comes to apply what he said concern- 
ing the Jewish tabernacle — its utensils and its services to the pur- 
pose for which he was writing. In doing so, he proceeds to com- 
pare these matters of the old dispensation with corresponding mat- 
ters in the new. It is this comparison, together with its practical 
bearings upon us, which I propose in this discourse to present for 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 28. 



245 



your meditation. May the Holy Ghost so TvT)uchsafe his assistance 
that the work may be faithfully performed! 

Observe then in the first place, that under the christian dispensa- 
tion as under the Jewish, there is a particular place where the atone- 
ment-service is attended to. The Hebrews had their tabernacle, and 
their temple. It was there before the affecting symbols of the holy 
of holies, that the high priest yearly entered with the blood of ex- 
piation. And " Christ being come an high priest of good things 
to come" had also a tabernacle in which to enter — a more perfect 
tabernacle, not made with hands." It is said that he entered with 
the blood of atonement " into the holy place" — " into heaven itself, 
now to appear in the presence of God for us." Both dispensations 
have each a particular place in which the priestly services are per- 
formed. Mark however, the superiority of the christian tabernacle. 

That of the Jews was earthly. It had an earthly location — it 
was constructed of earthly material — and it was erected by earth- 
ly architects. That which Christ our high priest entered is heav- 
enly — even " heaven itself" Heaven is that high world in which 
the omnipresent Deity affords a nearer and more immediate view 
of his perfections, and a more sensible manifestation of his glory, 
than in the other parts of the Divine empire. Whether heaven is 
in the centre of the vast machinery of creation, thus constituting 
the metropolis of the universe, I am not able to learn from the 
Scriptures. What it is, its arrangement and general character, is 
equally mysterious. But wherever it is, and w^hatever it is, it is 
there where Christ has gone to appear before God in our behalf. 
And as heaven is higher than the earth, so is it superior to the tab- 
ernacle of Moses. 

The Jewish tabernacle was typical. It was a " shadow" — a 
figure for the time then present." It was at best but a picture — a 
representation of something else. But the place where Christ 
officiates is an original reality. It is the " true (real) tabernacle, 
which the Lord pitched and not man." As the original is superior 
to the picture which represents it — as the thing typified is superior 
to the type — and as the substance is superior to the shadow, so is 
the christian tabernacle superior to the tabernacle of Moses. It 
w^as " a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, 
that is to say, not of this building," which Christ " has for us en- 
tered." 



246 LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 28. 

Observe in the next' place, that under the christian dispensation 
as under the Jewish, hlood only is used as the material for the atone- 
ment. When the Levitical high priest entered into the holy of ho- 
lies in the tabernacle, he did it "no^ without blood, which he offered 
for himself, and for the errors of the people." It is said that Mo- 
ses " sprinkled w^ith blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels 
of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with 
blood ; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was 
therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should 
be purified with these." In the same w^ay is blood used in the ser- 
vices of the new economy. The high priest of our profession does 
not appear before God for us without blood. " Neither with the 
blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood." Blood you 
perceive is an indispensable requisite in both dispensations. 1st. 
Because blood is the only true representative of life. The Lord 
declared to Moses, that ^' the life of all flesh is the blood." 2nd. 
Life is the thing forfeited by our transgressions. Justice requires 
that life as a satisfaction for the insult and injury it sustains by our 
sins. Hence blood, as the grand principle of vitality — -the proper 
representative of life, is the only thing which can make a satisfac- 
tory atonement. Hence it was that the blood of beasts was used 
as the substitute for the offender's forfeited life under the old econ- 
omy ; and hence it is that Christ's blood was shed and is presented 
in heaven as the only adequate substitute for the forfeited existence 
and happiness of the ransomed under the new. 

Observe then the superiority of the blood which atones for the 
christian, over that which the Jewish priests offered in the taber- 
nacle. 

The blood offered by the Levitical priests was the blood of in- 
ferior and brute creatures. It was the blood of "bulls and of 
goats," of rams and of heifers. But the blood wherewith we are 
sanctified was not obtained from the inferior animals. It was not 
obtained from mere men, much superior as this might have been. 
It was not obtained even from the angelic orders. The fountains 
of life in a far more noble being were drained to obtain it. He did 
not rank among the highest of created dignities, but above them 
all. It was he who is the brightness of Jehovah's glory and the 
express image of his person — he in whom dwelt all the fulness of 
the Godhead bodily — he who amid the splendors of a wide and 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 28. 



247 



everlasting empire received from age to age the applause and honor 
of an unmeasured universe — he who was the worthy object of 
heaven's highest and holiest halleluias, was bruised and pierced 
that his blood might be made an offering for sin ! Yes, he to whose 
praise the music from unnumbered worlds rolled in exultant peals 
over the plains of glory — " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Al- 
mighty !" was brought down as the victim of crucifixion and death 
to obtain for us eternal redemption ! The last life-drops were 
drained from the heart of incarnate Deity to atone for human guilt! 
Such is the superior excellence of the blood which our high priest 
presents in heaven. 

And as the blood offered for us is of a superior nature^ so it is 
also of superior efficacy to that offered by the Jewish priests. The 
apostle declares ^' it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of 
goats should take away sins." It could not make perfect as per- 
taining to the conscience. Nevertheless it had some bodily and 
temporal efficacy. "And if the blood of bulls and of goats, and 
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the puri- 
fying of the flesh : how much more shall the blood of Christ, who 
through the eternal Spirit offered himself wnthout spot to God, 
purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.?" 

In these words we have the superior efficacy of Christ's offering 
§0 peculiarly and particularly stated, that I must crave your atten- 
tion while I attempt to point out whence it derives its efficacy, and 
what that efficacy is. 

The efficacy of the christian offering is derived from two sour- 
ces: 1st. From the character of him of whose blood it consisted. 
2nd. From the manner in which that blood was poured out. 

The text says that it was " the blood of Chris f which consti- 
tutes the offering. Christ was a Divine being. He possessed sub- 
stantially in himself all the attributes and prerogatives of Deity. 
This has been clearly shown in a previous Lecture.^ As a Divine 
being he was also sinless. And not only had he never transgressed 
any law, but he was above all law. He was entirely independent — 
entirely beyond the reach of all the claims of law. There is not 
any sense in which the shedding of his blood could be considered 
as a something due to the law. So that if sacrifice can merit any- 
thing, the sacrifice of Christ was all meritorious — all efficacy. It 

'Lecture II. 



248 



LECTURE XXll. — CHA^TEE IX. tl — ^B. 



was in addition to this perfectly pure, it was an offering " without 
spot." There was nothing in it of any kind, viewed under any as- 
pect which could detract from its moral excellence. 

An offering from such a being — a being Divine in his nature as 
well as innocent and pure in bis character certainly must have 
efficacy. The oftering of mean and unworthy animals had efficacy, 
how much more then should the blood of the immaculate Son of 
God have virtue. 

But as to the manner in which this offering was made. It was 
1st. Voluntary. From the character of the being concerned, it 
could not be otherwise. " Christ offered himself to God." It was 
by the exercise of his own will, and of his own uncircumscribed 
power of self-disposition, that he from the heights of celestial se- 
curity and blessedness looked with an eye of pity on our sinful 
habitation, and went out upon the stupendous enterprise of the 
w^orld's salvation. It was by the spontaneous impulse of his own 
benevolence that he wrapped himself in humanity — tabernacled in 
our smitten abode — endured the griefs and crosses which were 
every where thrown in his way — drank the cup of Divine wrath — 
and exposed himself to the full discharge of those volleys of mighty 
and unknown distress which millions should have borne. Had 
this thing been in any way constrained, it would rather have insult- 
ed Jehovah, and called for vengeance, than have appeased him and 
secured his favor. But the blessed Savior offered himself volun- 
tarily. It was on his part altogether a matter of choice. And 
herein lies one of the strong points of the efficacy of the christian 
offering, 

2nd. But Christ moreover offered himself agreeable to an eter- 
nal arrangement between the Father and himself. That such an 
arrangement was made is clearly intimated in the Scriptures. (See 
Eph. i. — . Isaiah liii. 10 — 12.) In that gracious transaction be- 
tween the persons of the Godhead, Christ engaged to offer himself 
for the sins of mankind, and the Father engaged to accept of that 
offering as a complete satisfaction for the sins of those in whose 
behalf it should be presented. It is then in view of that engage- 
ment again tliat Christ's blood becomes powerful to save. From 
such an agreement the immutable God could not recede, and hence 
it must be regarded, and ever will be regarded as an ample equiva- 
lent for the sins of the world. 



LECTURE XXII. — CHAPTER IX. 11 — 28. 



249 



What then is the efficacy of the Savior's blood ? What does it 
effect? To these inquiries I answer 1st. It secures the remission 
of the sins, and the justification in the view of the law of all those 
in whose behalf it is presented, by meeting every claim which held 
them in a state of condemnation. Being the blood of a Divine, 
innocent, and pure personage, it represented humiliation and suffer- 
ing commensurate with the sufferings and disgrace due the sins of 
the entire world — humiliation and suffering which exhausted, and 
more than exhausted all the penalties and all the curses of the law. 
And though they were not entirely of the sort denounced upon 
transgressors, yet they were intense enough, and endured by a be- 
ing dignified enough to answer all the ends of justice without the 
literal infliction of the penalty upon the sinner. They arrest and 
still the thunders of the law, while at the same time they magnify 
it and make it honorable. Through them "God can be just and 
yet the justifier of them that believe in Jesus." Consequently the 
blood of Christ presented in behalf of any one, frees him from the 
condemnation of the law, and secures him the treatment of one who 
had never sinned. " To him gave all the prophets witness, that 
whoever believes in him, should through him receive remission of 
sins." 

2nd. But not only so. It also frees us of those original and in- 
herent impulses to sin which all men inherit from Adam. This it 

does in two ways : by securing for us the influences of the Holy 
Spirit, whose office it is to cleanse and sanctify us; and by furnish- 
ing us the most overpowering motives to obedience to God and 
holy living. This is done more by the means of grace than by the 
blood of the Redeemer directly. Nevertheless it is to that blood 
that we are indebted for the means of grace. A Savior might have 
been provided — a whole ritual o^means might have been instituted, 
but this without the pouring out of his blood in our behalf could 
no more have saved us from our sins or our depravity than if mercy 
had never looked upon us in pity. 

3d. But Christ's blood moreover secures us the title to all the 
blessedness to which the most rigid positive obedience to the letter 
and spirit of the law could have given us access. Did the law say 
" do this and live r" The Gospel says, " Whosoever believeth on 
the Son hath everlasting life." Did obedience to the law secure 
Divine favor and elevate the soul to the naked and open enjoyment 



250 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 28. 



of his presence.!* Through the blood of Christ we are made 
" kings and priests unto God and his Father." Did the keeping 
of the law entitle man to Divine reward } Through the blood of 
Christ we are " begotten again to an inheritance incorruptible, and 
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven." 

How full and glorious then is the efficacy of the Savior's blood ! 
Not all the austerities of the bigot—the self-inflicted tortures of the 
enthusiast — the sacrificial rites of all nations — nay, not all the cat- 
tle upon ten thousand hills offered up in one unbroken hecatomb 
could merit or secure for a single soul what it has effected for all 
those in whose behalf it has been presented. It is something upon 
which the sin-wearied soul can repose with composure, knowing 
that by it the conscience is purged from dead works — reconcilia- 
tion with God is effected — and eternal redemption secured. So 
much superior is it to the blood offered by the Jewish priests, that 
it was absolutely the very thing in prospect of which pardon was 
obtained by the ancients, " On this account," says the apostle 
"he is the mediator of a new covenant, that by means of his death 
even those transgressions committed under the first covenant might 
be atoned for, and the promised eternal inheritance secured unto 
such as are called." ^ It is the precious blood of Jesus Christ 
which saves all who are saved. The worthies of the past — -the 
faithful of the present — and all the penitents of the future find sal« 
vation only in it. Well may the church sing : 

" There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins; 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, loose all their guilty stains.'' 

And well may the ransomed in glory fall down before the Lamb 
with their harps and golden vials of odors, saying, " Thou art wor- 
thy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof : for thou wast 
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kind- 
red, and tongue, and people ; and hast made us unto our God kings 
and priests." 

" Shout, heaven and earth, this sum of good to man !'' 

But we must hasten on to a third point of comparison between 
the two dispensations We learn from the text, that the christian 
covenant like the Jewish is ratified with the offering of sacrifice. 

*I give but a paraphrase conveying what I consider the meaning of this difficult 
passage. 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 28. 



251 



" For where a covenant is, (i. e. between God and man,) there is 
necessity that the death of the appointed victim should take place. 
For a covenant is ratified over the victim when it is dead, since it 
is of no strength (force) while the appointed victim is alive." 

The apostle here states a general principle in the dealings of 
God — a plan in which he confirms all his engagements with men. 
It was thus that his covenant with Abraham was ratified. Several 
animals were slain and divided, and the symbol of the Divine pre- 
sence was made to pass between them to furnish additional assu- 
rance to the patriarch that his seed should inherit the land of prom- 
ise. (Gen. XV. 9 — 18.) So the covenant made with the Hebrews 
in the wilderness was made in the same way. (Ex. xxiv. 6. See 
also Jer. xxxiv. 18. Zech. ix. 11.) In fact all the Jewish sac- 
rifices in their endless repetition were regarded but so many new 
instances of the ratification of his promises. It was a settled pol- 
icy for God to confirm all his engagements with men over the 
death of some victim, and no covenant could be considered as of 
full force which was not thus confirmed. 

In view of this established method of transacting such matters 
between God and man, Paul says, " Neither was the first covenant 
sanctioned without blood. For when Moses had spoken every 
precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood 
of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, 
and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying. This is 
the blood of the covenant which God hath enjoined upon you. 
Moreover he sprinkled likewise with blood both the tabernacle, 
and all the vessels of the ministr}''. And almost all things are by 
the law purged with blood : and without shedding of blood is no 
remission." 

And it is in view also of this settled laiv in the case that he fur- 
ther argues, Since then the copies of heavenly things must needs 
be consecrated in this manner, the heavenly things themselves 
(must be consecrated) by better sacrifices than these." As this 
was the established rule — a rule which was always rigidly observ- 
ed in God^s engagements with men, so the new covenant to be 
valid must have sacrifices of ratification. It too must exhibit the 
death of the victim by which its validity is confirmed ; and a vic- 
tim of a dignity corresponding with its antitypical superiority. 



252 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 28. 



The force of this reasoning is obvious. It was known to all 
Paul's readers that Jesus Christ of whom he spoke as the great 
sacrifice of the new economy, had been slain at Jerusalem. This 
argument shows that that event was a thing which precisely fell 
in with an established rule by which the validity of all God's cov- 
enants were attested. And the death of Christ having been the 
death of a being so obviously and so far superior to the animals 
which were sacrificed for the ratification of the first covenant, it 
v/as just as was to be expected, the heavenly things themselves 
were ratified with a superior sacrifice. " For Christ is not enter- 
ed into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of 
the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of 
God for us." And hence the conclusion that he was the Messiah, 
and was to be embraced as such by all. 

But observe in the fourth place, that the christian offering, unlike 
the Jewish, is made but once. The Jewish " high priest entered 
into the holy place every year with the blood of others." There 
was under the old dispensation a continual repetition of the offer- 
ing. But not so in the new economy. Our high priest has not 
passed into the heavens " that he might frequently make an offer- 
ing of himself ; for otherwise he must needs have often suffered 
since the foundation of the world ; but now, at the close of the 
(ancient) dispensation, he hath once for all made his appearance, 
in order that he might remove the punishment due to sin by the 
sacrifice of himself." — -(Stuart's trans.) The Jewish sacrifices 
were yearly repeated because they had no efficacy to cleanse. 
Their typical design rendered it necessary that they should be fre- 
quently made. But the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is so infinitely 
meritorious, that it is sufficient to exhaust the entire volume of 
penalties which the law threatened upon all earth's sinful genera- 
tions. And being itself the end and object of all types, when it 
was made the thing was finished — -the work was done — there was 
no repetition necessary. The sinner might now through the effi- 
cacy of that sacrifice come to God with boldness — come himself 
as a priest and partake of all those rich provisions which Christ's 
atoning blood has purchased. 

Jesus has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself! This is a 
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. This is one of the 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 ^28. 



253 



most glorious truths in the book of God — -the dearest to the soul 
that salutes the ear of man. " If any man have ears to hear, let 
him hear." 

Observe finally, that under the new dispensation as under the 
old, our high priest, after he has finished the atoning services in 
the most holy place vi^hither he is now entered, will return clad in 
his magnificent robes to bless those who are waiting for him, 
" And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this 
(cometh) the judgment ; so Christ having once for all made an 
offering of himself to bear the sins of many, will appear without a 
sin-offering, at his second (coming,) for the salvation of those who 
wait for him." 

The high priest who officiated in the tabernacle after making 
atonement for the people in the most holy place, which he did in 
his ordinary plain dress, came out arrayed in his magnificent robes 
to bless the people who awaited his return in the court. (Lev. 
xvi. 23, 24. Numb. vi. 23—26.) So when Christ shall have 
finished the atoning services which he is now attending to in 
heaven, he will array himself in his judicial majesty to wind up 
the great drama of this world's history. The Scriptures are full 
of allusions to that great event — an event which is to consummate 
all other events of time. It is called a day" — a " great day" — 
a fearful day" — a day of wrath" — " the last day" — the " day 
of redemption" — "the day of God." Everything said of it pre- 
sents it as an object of stupendous interest. 

It is presented in the Scriptures as a day of universal interest 
among men. It is declared that " every eye shall see him." All 
who are in their graves shall be reanimated, and shall see him. 
All who now live in the world in all its extent shall see him. And 
all who live hereafter of our children to the latest generations of 
our race shall see him. There is not one who is not interested in 
that great event. It is the wonderful event which fixes — eternally 
fixes the destinies of men. 

" Great day ! for which all other clays were made 
For which earth rose from chaos, man from earth ; 
And an eternity « # * * # 

Descended on poor earth-created man ! 
Great day of dread, decision and despair!" 



254 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 ^28. 



It is also represented as a day which is to come upon us sud- 
denly and unexpectedly — as a thief in the night" — " when men 
think not," 

*' At midnight (when mankind is wrapt in peace, 
And worldly fancy feeds on golden dreams ;) 
At midnight, 'tis presumed this pomp will burst 
From tenfold darkness ; sudden as the spark 
From smitten steel ; from nitrous grain, the blaze. 
Man, starting from his couch, shall sleep no more. 
The day is broke, which never more shall close ! 
Above, around, beneath, amazement all ! 
Terror and glory joined in their extremes ! 
Our God in grandeur, and our world on fire !" 

It is further represented as a day of terrible dismay for the guilty. 
When Christ comes the second time, he is to come as the avenger 
of his elect. John in one of his visions of that event, says, " And 
the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and 
the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man, and 
every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the 
mountains ; and said to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us, and 
hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from 
the wiath of the Lamb : for the great day of his wrath has come ; 
and who shall be able to stand ?" The tribulation of those times 
is represented as such as has not been since the world began, and 
such as never again shall be. The wine-press of Divine wrath 
shall then be trod until the blood of Jehovah's enemies flows in 
depth to the horses bridles for " the space of a thousand and six 
hundred furlongs." Wo, to the fierceness of sevenfold thunders, 
shall then be poured upon the guilty. It will not then be the 
Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
But he will have come to dye his garments in the blood of bis 
foes, and to triumph in the greatness of his strength. " He shall 
smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of 
his lips shall he slay the wicked." 

And connected with the w^oes which he will then inflict upon 
the wicked, is the glory which shall be manifested in himself. As 
the high priest appeared to the people arrayed in his magnificent 
robes after the services of the most holy place, so shall Christ come 
clothed in all the pomp and grandeur of his unveiled Divinity. It 
is called a glorious appearing" — a coming in " the glory of his 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 28. 



255 



Father, and of his holy angels." At his first coming, he came 
as a servant, but then he shall come as the King of kings and 
Lord of lords." At the first he appeared in a stable, at the second 
he will appear from the highest heavens. Not then shall Caiaphas 
charge him with blasphemy — Pilate bind and scourge him — Herod 
mock him as a fool — ^Judas betray him with a kiss — Jewish rab- 
ble insist on his crucifixion — nor Roman soldiery nail him to the 
cross. But with a dazzling crown upon his head — a mighty scep- 
tre in his hand — legions of heavenly authorities for his attend- 
ants — and thunders and lightnings and trumpet sounds going be- 
fore him, he shall come to execute judgment upon all, and break 
the wicked in pieces as with, a rod of iron. Upon a great white 
throne he shall sit in his majesty, and from the glory of his coun- 
tenance the heavens and the earth shall flee away, and there shall 
be found no more place for them ! 

And intimately connected with the glory of Christ on that great 
occasion, is the blessedness of that event to the righteous and 
such as w^ait for his coming. He is then to come for their salva- 
tion. It is styled a "day of redemption." It is everyw^here 
presented as a thing of delightful prospect for the church. Paul 
says in one place, " Our conversation is in heaven, whence also 
we look for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," &c. Again, 
" The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, w^ith 
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, &c. 
Wherefore comfort one another w^ith these w^ords." Again, " For 
the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all 
men, teaching us, that denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we 
should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world ; 
looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the 
great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." 

There are various circumstances connected with the Savior's 
second coming, which, with all the stupendous and terrible signs 
which are to accompany that event, render it a subject of desire 
and rejoicing. 1st. The bodies of the saints shall then be reno- 
vated — purified — and prepared for their heavenly state. Hence it 
is said " we look for the coming of the Savior, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who shall change our vile body, and fashion them like unto 
his glorious body." The pains, impurities, and gross encum- 



256 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11— ^S, 



brances of our flesh shall then be dropped. " This corruptible 
must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality." 
In place of material we shall then have spiritual bodies— -bodies 
which shall never weary nor decay, but flourish in the glory of 
immortal youth. 

2nd* It is desirable, because we shall then see our Savior as he 
is. This is one of those glorious beatitudes which Christ when 
on earth promised to the righteous. " Blessed are the pure in 
heart, for they shall see God." What other sight can be so de- 
sirable ? How joyful for us through the dark glass which now 
obscures our vision to catch a slight conception- of his glory and 
loveliness. How we long for those hallowed seasons when we 
feel him near. But then our wishes and longings shall be realized. 
We shall then see " the King in his beauty." Ah what a meet- 
ing will that be, when the redeemed shall meet their Redeemer ? 
W^hat joy to be greeted with his smiles, and be welcomed to his 
bosom with his own blessed w^ords ! 

3d. It is desirable, because then also we shall be perfected in 
the image of Christ. " Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; 
but it doth not yet appear what we shall be : but we know that 
when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him 
as he is." It seems to be the will of God that saints should be 
transformed and exalted to a moral image of himself. They are 
" predestined to be transformed into the image of his Son." The 
time when this is to be accomplished is the coming of Christ. In 
this life we are like him in some respects, but when he shall ap- 
pear we shall both bodily and morally be like him. 

4th. It is desirable, because then we shall enter upon the enjoy- 
ment of our everlasting inheritance in glory. " Then shall he say 
to those on his right hand. Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the joy prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Men 
are doubtless happy immediately after death, but not supremely 
happy — not so happy as they will be after Christ's coming. Paul 
said there was " a crown of righteousness" laid up for him, but 
added that God the righteous Judge should give it to him only 
at that day^ It is then, and not till then the righteous shall 
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." 



LECTURE XXII. CHAPTER IX. 11 28. 



257 



In view of these things is it not a subject of glad hope that 
Christ will come again ? Well may we sing 

*' Come, thou Desire of nations, quickly come ! 
Conquerer of death break up thy gloomy tomb; 
. . . Star of thine Israel, call the wanderers in ; 

Healer of nation's wounds, thy work begin ; 
Thou nearest kinsman, come, avenge our wrongs, 
Our sorrows turn to joy, our sighs to songs." 

Let US then live in habitual preparation for his advent. To each 
one of us he will come soon ; to all he will come suddenly. 
Whether he come to remove us by death, which is a thing ap- 
pointed for all men, or w^hether in the clouds of heaven to judge 
the world, the period is not far distant when we shall see him. 
Yes, our eyes shall behold the Son of God in his glory ! That 
which christians have long desired — a sight of their Savior who 
died for them, shall soon, very soon be granted us. No christian 
begins a week or a day in which there is not a possibility that be- 
fore its close he may have seen the Son of God in his glory. 
None lies down upon his bed at night who may not, when the 
morning dawns upon this world, be gazing on the glories of the 
great Redeemer in the heavens. 

Seeing then that such is the posture of affairs, ''what manner 
of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 
looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, where- 
in the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements 
shall melt v/ith fervent heat." 



18 



LECTURE XXIII. 



THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST.^ 

Heb. ix. 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which 
are the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence 
of God for us. 

No one can rise from an attentive reading of the New Testa- 
ment without the conviction that the atonement of Jesus Christ is 
the most prominent subject in it. It is the ultimate theme of all its 
writers, and is to be found in some form and in some of its relations 
on every page. So deeply was the Rev. Dr. Andrew Fuller per- 
suaded of the prominence with which it is set forth in the Scrip- 
tures, and which it holds in the great system of redemption, that 
he sketched a plan for a new system of theology in which it was 
to be the central truth around which all the other doctrines of re- 
ligion were to be interwoven. The Rev. Robert Hall also ex- 
pressed it as his deep and growing conviction, that the atonement 
of Jesus Christ rested at the very foundation of the true system of 
vital religion. It is a truth so fundamentally important that with- 
out it Christianity dwindles down into a flat, cold, and powerless 
morality, without mysteries or sublimities, having no terrors for the 
conscience nor comforts for the believer. In its absence the soul 
languishes like a shaded plant, or flourishes only in its own dis- 
grace. The sinner must have it, else he will sink into the gloomy 
horrors of Atheism and superstition, or have his noblest and ten- 
derest affections shrivelled and crisped with fears which nothing 
can allay. But prominent and important as the doctrine of Christ's 
atonement is, and familiar as we would suppose men to be with it 
on that account, it is nevertheless much encumbered with error, 
:and but imperfectly understood even by some of our most estima- 
ble divines. A mere glance of an inquisitive mind into our wri- 

' Some may prefer to call the subject of the following discourse, the " Intercession** 
of Christ. " MonemenV is used, because it ia in this connection that the term is mostly 
«mployed in the Scriptures. 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 



259 



tings on theology will satisfy as to this point. An attempt there- 
fore to illustrate this great doctrine — to relieve it from the obscu- 
rity in which it rests, humble as that attempt may be, it is to be 
hoped will be patiently and favorably received. 

Let it then be clearly and distinctly understood that when the 
atonement is spoken of I do not mean anything else but the atone- 
ment : I do not mean redemption — nor ransom — nor reconciliation 
— nor propitiation. These are words which have each a specific 
meaning of their own. They all designate things relating to the 
atonement, but neither of them specifically refers to the atonement 
itself. 

Redemption signifies buying again — ^buying out of the hands of 
another. It sets before the mind a work or transaction of which 
the atonement constitutes but a part. 

Ransom signifies the price paid in the transaction of redemp- 
tion. It refers to the thing presented as a satisfaction to Divine 
justice for the sins of those who are the subjects of the Gospel. 
The atonement however is the official act in which this ransom is 
presented. 

Reconciliation is an effect which depends upon the atonement. 
It signifies the making of those friends who were at variance. It 
comprehends the penitent return of the sinner to his offended Ma- 
ker, and his kind reception on the part of Jehovah in view of the 
atonement. 

Propitiation refers to the sacrifice offered to God to avert the 
punishment of sin and secure the bestow^ment of his favor. In 
the Gospel it corresponds very nearly with the word ransom. It 
designates the sacrifice with which the atonement is made, but not 
the atonement itself. 

Nor do I mean the death of Christ when I speak of the atone- 
ment. We are very prone to speak in such a way as to confound 
these two things. And though I hold the immolation of the Sa- 
vior on mount Calvary to be a thing essential to the atonement, 
and a most significant and important event in the history of our 
redemption ; yet, statements of the kind alluded to are doubtless 
grounded upon indistinct or erroneous views of the Messiah's 
priesthood. I am unable to call up a single inspired passage 
which can be legitimately made to sustain them. There may be 
circumstances in which they are allowable ; but when we come to 



260 • LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 

view things narrowly, and in their true relations, we will find that 
they seriously conflict with the exact truth. As to the material 
for the atonement — ^^the foundation and subject of it, this was un- 
questionably and most emphatically the death of Christ. But the 
material for the atonement is obviously to be distinguished from 
the atonement itself. 1 know of no processes of logic by which the 
stones, mortar and timbers which lie scattered on the ground can 
be proven to be the stately mansion which the architect will sub- 
sequently build out of them. The atonement as I understand it, 
is the official presentation of the blood of Jesus Christ at the throne 
of God by our great High Priest in heaven; 

1. That this is a correct view of the matter will be seen from 
the nature of the Jewish service on the great day of atonement. 
This service is everywhere represented in the Gospel as exactly 
typical of the work of salvation by Jesus Christ. By finding out 
then in what the atonement consisted in these services, and what 
particular part of the work of salvation by Christ it prefigured, we 
will then know what to call the atonement of our High Priest. 

The whole service for the great day of atonement will be found 
all minutely laid down in the 16th chapter of Leviticus. From 
this we learn that the high priest was to take several selected ani- 
mals and slay them, then take their blood with burning incense 
into the holy of holies, where, by the sprinkling of the blood be- 
fore and on the mercy-seat, he was to make an atonement for him- 
self, for the congregation, and for the holy place. This constitu- 
ted the principal and most significant part of the service. We 
then find the whole to comprehend these tw^o things, the killing of 
sacrifices — and the offering of the blood in the holy of holies. The 
killing of the victims however was a thing which ordinarily de- 
volved upon the persons presenting them. (Lev. iv. 4.) And on 
the great day of expiation it devolved upon the high priest only 
because he was himself numbered among the transgressors, and 
not because it was a constituent part of the priestly office. The 
great business of the high priest then which arose purely out of 
his office, was the sprinkling of the blood in the holy of holies. 
Hence we see that the atonement in the Jewish service was the 
official presentation of the blood of the sacrifices for sin before the 
Lord in the holy of holies. The slaying of the victims and the 
violent sufferings which they endured in the surrender of their 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 



261 



lives were no part of it. These sacrificial ceremonies were per- 
formed in the outer court ; the atonement was made within the 
veil." The presentation and immolation of the victims were only 
preparatory, though indispensable arrangements for the atonement. 

The question now comes up, what part of the w^ork of Jesus 
Christ was represented by the atonement-service of the Jewish 
high priest in tke holy of holies ? This is a matter easily to be 
determined. The holy of holies is eveiywhere set forth as a type 
and representation of heaven. It is several times in this epistle 
called a figure" — " type" — " pattern" of heaven. The Scrip- 
tures in a few instances call it heaven. All the Jewish writers 
have regarded it as a representation of heaven. And the whole 
arrangement and all the symbols of that sacred apartment go on to 
show that such was its design. And as it was an emblem of 
heaven, so all the ceremonies performed in it w^ere also emblemat- 
ic of the momentous transactions which are transpiring in heaven. 
And as Aaron and his successors who were types of Christ officia- 
ted in the holy of holies on earth, so the Savior officiates in the 
immediate dwelling-place of God. And as the atonement under 
the typical dispensation consisted properly of the official presenta- 
tion of the blood from the sacrifices before the symbol of the Di- 
vine presence, so according to the statement already made, the 
atonement of the real economy — the christian dispensation is the 
official presentation of Christ's blood before God as he reveals 
himself in heaven, by our great High Priest. 

2. And that Christ does carry on the great business of his priest- 
hood in heaven, is also very plainly declared in various parts of 
the New Testament. Paul speaks of christian hope entering 
" within the veil, (into heaven) whither the forerunner is for us 
entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of 
Melchisedec." (Heb. vi. 19, 20.) Here it is distinctly stated 
that he has gone to heaven as our high priest, and that the most 
important business of his priesthood only commenced after his as- 
cension. Again, he encourages the believing Jews to hold fast 
their profession, " seeing that we have a great High Priest, that 
is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." (Heb. iv. 
14.) Again he says, we have such an high priest, who is set 
on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens ; a 
minister of holy things, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord 



262 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 



pitched and not man." And then proceeds to argue the point : 
** for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices ; 
wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to 
offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing 
that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law. (Heb. 
viii. 1 — 4.) 

The force of this reasoning may be more clearly seen by throw- 
ing it into a syllogistic form. " The great constitutional element 
of the priesthood is the offering of gifts and sacrifices. For this 
it was ordained. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a priest : therefore 
our Lord Jesus Christ must offer gifts and sacrifices. Again, It 
is of necessity that Christ have some offering to make. Otherwise 
he would not be a priest. But there are already authorized priests 
officiating on earth ; and as there cannot with propriety be two 
Divine priesthoods at the same time, in the same place : therefore 
Christ officiates in some other place — in the place whither he has 
gone — in heaven." All the premises assumed in this argument 
have either been made out in other portions of the epistle, or were 
admitted on all hands ; the steps in it are logically complete ; and 
the conclusion is clear. 

The same fact we have also declared in the text : " For Christ 
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are 
figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the 
presence of God for us." What language could be more distinct, 
and to the point ? 

In Romans we have the same thing, (viii. 34.) " Who is he 
that condemneth ?" asks the apostle. " It is Christ that died, yea 
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, 
who also maketh intercession for us." And what is the Scriptu- 
ral idea of intercession, but the appearance before God with the 
blood of atonement ? Again he speaks of Christ (iv. 25.) " Who 
was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justi- 
fication." Not that the event of Christ^s resurrection had any 
power to justify us before God. But he was raised from the death 
under the power of which he was placed by becoming a sacrifice, 
in order that he might go and offer that sacrifice before the throne 
of God in heaven, and thus obtain our justification. 

In the first epistle of John we also have this matter presented in 
the same light, (ii. 1.) " And if any man sin, we have an ad« 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 263 

vocate" — a paraclete — an intercessor — one who appears for the 
atonement of sin with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 

It does appear to me then, that the view of the atonement which 
I have presented is the correct — the Scriptural one. It is a thing 
going on in heaven. It is the great business which Christ went 
there to attend to. It consists in the official presentation of his 
blood, (not exactly literally, but actually — in a way corresponding 
with the spiriuality of the place in which it is done) before the Di- 
vinity in heaven in behalf of his people. 

And if this be the correct view, then it also follows that the 
atonement, unlike the making of sacrifice, does not consist in one 
sole act performed once for all, and containing merit sufficient to 
reach down to the end of time without exhaustion. It is con- 
stantly going on. This is a feature of the atonement which I hold 
as also set forth in the Scriptures. 

By turning to the seventh chapter of our epistle, it will be found 
that Christ's priesthood is of the order of the priesthood of Mel- 
chisedec. It will be found too that one of the most striking re- 
spects in which it is like that of the patriarch is, that it is intrans- 
missible. Christ is a priest forever," or a priest all the time. 
As Melchisedec was a priest " continually," and officiated from 
the commencement to the close of his own peculiar dispensation ; 
so Christ " continueth ever" from the beginning to the end of the 
christian economy. Now if his atonement ended with the first in- 
stance of the presentation of his blood in heaven, then his priest- 
hood ceased. The whole thing was then done, and the priestly 
office of course passed away. But such the Scriptures declare 
was not the fact. He entered heaven as our High Priest, he is a 
priest now, and he will be a priest until the end of the world. 
Paul says (25) " he ever liveth to make intercession" — to atone 
" for us." And all the passages which I have already quoted on 
another point also hold out the idea that it is a thing continually 
going on. As under the Jewish system, whenever a sinner came 
with his offering the atonement was repeated, just so Christ's of- 
fice continues in heaven ; and in each new instance that a sinner 
repents and pleads the sacrifice of Calvary, our great and heaven- 
ly Priest holds up his blood afresh as though it had just been shed, 
and shed only for that individual offender. And just so the atone- 



264 



LECTURE XXIII.^CHAPTER IX. 24. 



ment will go on until the number of the elect is made up, and the 
economy of the Gospel has reached its end. 

Receiving this doctrine then, and I cannot do otherwise than 
receive it as the Scriptural doctrine of the atonement, there are 
several important uses to which I will now proceed to apply it. 

If Christ's priesthood is continued in heaven, and the atone- 
ment is something continually going on there, it forever settles the 
question whether the Savior died for all men, or merely for the se- 
lect few. 

It has been the plan of some in adjusting their theological sys- 
tems, to raise — discuss — -and settle upon question^ respecting this 
matter, and afterwards to mould the atonement so as to fit their 
preconceived theories. In the prosecution of this plan, as has 
been abundantly proven, a borrowed meaning has been imparted 
to Scriptural terms — the minds of unbiased inquirers have been 
confused — and wrangling, and bitter, and protracted controversy 
have disturbed the church throughout her whole extent. Hence 
also we hear of the atonement being general in its design" and 
" limited in its application," as if God failed to apply what he had 
designed. Hence also the death of Christ, and the atonement of 
Christ are spoken of as the same thing. And from the same 
source have proceeded various other anomalies, which have en- 
cumbered the truth as it is in Jesus. But by going back to the 
simplicity of Bible statements, and receiving the doctrine of atone- 
ment as the text presents it, we shall find no further diflficulty with 
the inspired declaration that " Jesus by the grace of God tasted 
death for every many My faith is, that Christ died for every in- 
dividual member of the human family as far back as Adam, and 
as far forward as the last generation of his race. And I rest it on 
considerations like these : 

1st. All men equally need a Savior. As not one has escaped 
the consequences of the fall, so none can be recovered from the 
ruin but by the help of the Divine hand. With all the various 
efforts that have been put forth— individual— social^ — civil— eccle- 
siastical, none have ever been able, and none ever will be able to 
regain the favor of insulted heaven but through the means of a 
Divine Mediator. All are equally helpless; and if there be pro- 
vision made for the salvation of any, there can be no satisfactory 
reason why provision should not be made for alL 



V 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 265 

2nd. Christ can just as easily die for all men as for the few. 
What is to hinder him ! His sacrifice can as easily be made avail- 
able for millions as for tens. What occasion is there to circum- 
scribe what is possessed of infinite merit ? To say that he is not 
able to die for all men, is to dishonor his absolute power of self- 
disposition. To say that he will not, is to dishonor his infinite 
goodness. Looking then at his entire ability, and those lovely 
perfections which the Scriptures ascribe to him, we are compelled 
to believe that if he died for any of earth's guilty inhabitants it is 
most probable that he died for all of them. 

3d. Tbe calls and offers of the Gospel made in view of the 
sacrifice of the Savior have no limits, other than those assigned 
to the habitation of man on the one hand, and the present exist- 
ence of his race on the other. The last command of the ascend- 
ing Savior was — " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gos- 
pel to every creature.^'* But wherefore preach and offer salvation 
to all men, if Christ did not die for all men ? Can we suppose 
the meek and compassionate Jesus capable of such tantalism? 
Can you think that he would fan and aggravate the sufferings of 
some whilst he administers eternal redemption to others who are 
equally guilty ? Would not a procedure like this throw the entire 
universe into confusion ? The sudden and total repeal of the law 
of gravitation itself would not more effectually unhinge creation. 

4th. The Scriptures explicitly declare that Christ died for all. 
John says that he "is the propitiation for our sins, and not for 
ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." Paul says in one 
place that he " gave himself a ransom for all." In another — 

We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead." 
But what becomes of his argument if Christ died only for the few.'^ 
Again he says "he died for all that they which live should not 
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, 
and rose again." Nor do the terms world and all refer merely to 
the world of believers and all christians, but to all men ; yea, even 
for those also who are lost, did Christ lay down his life on Calvary. 
Paul in 1 Cor. speaks of some perishing for whom Christ died, 
(viii. 11.) In Rom. (xiv. 15,) of the destruction of others for 
whom Christ died. And in numerous passages we find it taught 
by implication and by explicit declaration, that " Jesus by the 



266 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 



grace of God tasted desih for every man,^^ including saints and 
sinners. 

But here the inquiry is presented, " if Christ died for all men, 
and yet all are not saved, did he not then to some extent die in 
vain ? and would it not be derogatory to the Divine character to 
suppose that he would allow his Son to die in vain ?" This is a 
thought very frequently presented to embarrass the view of Christ's 
death which I am advocating. It may be well therefore to pre- 
sent what may be said by way of offset. 

Suppose then that in a certain sense the Savior did die in vain ; 
i. e. that millions are never made to realize its saving virtue. 
Would that impeach the character of Jehovah in suffering such a 
thing ? Do we not everywhere see Divine arrangements which to 
our eyes seem totally in vain ? How much rain falls on ever- 
sterile sands or on barren rocks, to our eyes in vain ! What floods 
of light are poured each day on barren wastes, or untraversed 
oceans, to our eyes in vain ! How many flowers shed forth their 
fragrance in the wilderness, and 'waste their sweetness on the des- 
ert air,' to us apparently for naught ! How many pearls lie use- 
less in the ocean ; how much gold and silver in the earth ; how 
many diamonds amidst rocks to us unknown, and apparently in 
vain ! And how much medicinal virtue is created by God each 
year in the vegetable world that is unknown to man, and that de- 
cays and is lost without removing any disease, and that seems to 
be created in vain !" ^ But does any body think the worse of God 
for this ? Why then should it be thought derogatory to his char- 
acter should he see fit to provide supplies of grace in Jesus which 
nobody chooses to secure for the perishing soul ? 

But, my brethren, though not one single soul of the vast popu- 
lation of our world which has been — is now — or ever shall be 
should so demean itself as to find redemption through the Savior's 
blood, I still contend that his death would not have been in vain, 
or have failed to accomplish that which God designed should be 
effected by it. What was the design ? Was it that men should 
be saved, or that they might be saved ? Was it to render their 
salvation certain, or merely to render it possible ? " To the law 
and to the testimony;" for by their decisions alone can we safely 
abide in this matter. In John we read from the lips of the Savior 

^Barnes' Notes on 2 Cor. v. 14. 



LECTURE XXIII.— CHAPTER IX. 24. 



267 



himself, " I am come that they might have life." Paul says the 
plan was devised and executed " that God might be just, and the 
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Consequently the pur- 
pose of God will not be defeated though never a sinner be saved. 
The design was to make a full salvation possible. His goodness 
and mercy would still be abundantly and gloriously displayed. 
And the moral impression produced by the death of Christ, though 
utterly in vain as respects the actual redemption of sinners, on 
other portions of the universe could not have been deepened a 
single shade if all the world ventured on him and were saved. 
How then can it derogate from the character of God that he has 
graciously condescended to provide salvation for all men, though 
some are so wicked as to reject it? 

But while Christ died for all men, the view of the atonement 
which I have presented explains the perplexing inquiry, why all 
are not saved. If Christ's death was his atonement, and he died 
for all men, then I know no stopping point this side of downright 
universalism. The fact is however, that the salvation of men does 
not depend simply on the death of the Savior, but upon something 
beyond this which will presently be explained. None of us need 
count on being saved in consideration merely of the death of the 
Son of God. Something more is essential. We must individu- 
ally covenant with him as our great High Priest. 

It is a principle very clearly made out in the history of the sa- 
cerdotal office, that a sacrifice without an atonement can be of no 
advantage. Of what avail would it have been to the Jew to pre- 
sent his goat or his bullock, and to slay it in the temple, were he 
to stop there and neglect to engage a priest to present the atone- 
ment for him ? What promise could he plead, or what right could 
he claim for the Divine favor ? Certainly none. How then can 
we hope to be saved unless we by prayer and faith employ Christ 
to atone for our sins ? His death, though it was undergone that 
we might have everlasting life, will not save us unless the blood 
which he shed be presented at our instance before the throne of 
God. I say at our instance. Christ officiates for none but those 
who employ him, and intrust their spiritual interests entirely into 
his hands. The sacrifice has been made — ^the victim has been im- 
molated, — Christ has ascended to his father and is ready at any 
moment to present his blood as an atonement rich and sufficient 



268 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 



for the worst of those who will come unto him ; but unless we 
come, we never can be benefited by his mediation. • Men may 
console themselves for a season with bright hopes built upon the 
simple death of Jesus, without complying with the requisitions of 
the Gospel ; but they are trusting in mercies which have never 
been covenanted, and laying their foundation in the sand. I grant 
that the death of Christ was a complete satisfaction for the sins of 
the whole world. I grant that every drop of his blood speaks 
volumes of grace, and cries in tones which Jehovah will not and 
cannot fail to heed. But I have yet to find the first passage or 
intimation in the Bible which represents it as speaking and crying 
in behalf of any one who has not covenanted with Jesus to pre- 
sent it as his plea for salvation. Supplies of grace there are to 
ransom every rebel in the universe, but Christ alone as the great 
high Priest in heaven can unlock the fountain and give us access 
to its healing and exhaustless waters. Let the glad tidings of free 
grace circulate among you as freely as the air you breathe — throw 
them upon the wings of the winds — publish them from Dan to 
Beersheba, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth — tell to 
every stricken sinner, the Lord has died for you ! Tell him that 
Jesus of Nazareth stands ready to save him. But while you thus 
herald abroad the tidings of gladness, let it also be as distinctly 
understood that "he that believeth not shsLW be damned." For 
just so surely as Christ's atonement is a thing going on in heaven, 
so surely shall we come short of salvation, unless we come to 
him — covenant with him — and rely on him. 

This then is the great reason why all men are not saved — all 
men do not choose to be saved. It is not because Christ did not 
die for them that any are lost, but because they do not plead his 
sufferings and death as the ground of their justification. They 
do not receive Christ as their Priest. To such he said himself, 
" Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." " This is 
the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love 
darkness rather than light." The gate has been opened, but how 
shall the city be entered without passing through it ? The remedy 
is provided, but how can it relieve without being applied Food 
may be never so abundant and nutritive, but how can it preserve 
from starvation unless it be taken ? No more can the death of 
Jesus with all its untold merit secure the redemption of any one, 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 



269 



unless those duties be attended to which alone can engage him as 
our high priest. The condemned rejecter of the Gospel can bring 
no reproaches upon God's impartiality. He cannot lift himself up 
in his torments and stay their fury with the reflection that Christ 
never died for him, and salvatiDn never was within his reach. No, 
no \ his language is, ^' I have destroyed myself. I have rejected 
the Lord who died to save me. I have spurned the glorious 
crown that was proffered me. The cause of my ruin is not in 
God — not in the Gospel — not in anything but my own mad self. 
'Tis here the worm that dieth not finds all its venom !" 

In the name of the great Redeemer of the world then, I say, 
let no man think his salvation sure, or indulge the hope of reach- 
ing heaven, who refuses to acknowledge Christ as his Prophet — 
his Priest — and his King. AMien the floods of death and storms 
of judgment come, such airy castles must fall, and great shall be 
the fall of them. To be saved, sins must be repented of and re- 
nounced — self must be sacrificed — and Jesus must be trusted and 
obeyed. These are the only terms upon which he becomes the 
officiating priest of any one. And until you have complied with 
these, never, never flatter yourselves with the expectation of find- 
ing your way to glory. " Verily, verily, except a man be born 
again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." 

But it may be asked by those who wish to press this view of 
atonement in all its bearings, If Christ's atonement is a thing going 
on in heaven, and atonement is made only for those who covenant 
^vith the Savior to this efifect, how then are infants saved } To 
this I offer a brief reply. 

That children, and all children are saved, is not to be doubted. 
They were received into the church as heirs of the promise under 
the old dispensation, and Christ himself declared them fit subjects 
for the kingdom of heaven. It is certain too that they are saved 
by the same merciful provisions through which adult believers are 
saved. But in what particular way they become partakers of 
Christ's mediation, has not been revealed in the Scriptures. It is 
enough for me to know, it is enough for all bereaved parents to 
know, that all those little ones which like budding flowers here 
withered in our arms, have been taken to bloom in a more conge- 
nial clime ; and that while we linger with tears at their little graves 
their spirits rest upon the soft bosom of him who on earth took 



270 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 



them in his arms and blessed them. The doctrine which I have 
advanced I hold to be the doctrine of the Bible. And v^hile I 
have an inch of ground in the province of Revelation on which to 
set my foot, I will not — I cannot resign it for the most subtle, 
beautiful and attractive speculation of unassisted reason. If the 
method of infant salvation cannot be satisfactorily explained, it is 
sufficient to know that there is no necessity that it should be. The 
way in which we are to be saved is clear enough. Our duty is 
laid down in terms so plain, that a wayfaring man though a fool 
may not err therein. " He that believeth on the Son hath ever- 
lasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, 
but the wTath of God abideth on him." 

And if I have succeeded in impressing you with a correct idea 
of the atonement, if Christ is at the right hand of the throne of the 
majesty in the heavens, there ready to present his blood for the 
acquittal of every worn sinner who will but come to him ; how 
rich then is the encouragement for all to venture unreservedly on 
him, and to trust him with all the immortal interests of our souls. 
Certainly there is not a man on earth who does not feel himself a 
sinner. The heathen themselves have felt and acknowledge the 
disturbing influences of a guilty conscience. How dear the mes- 
sage then to such a heart, that there is one who is now in heaven 
who is able and ready to redeem it with his blood. Look sinner, 
look at that great high priest who now stands in glorified human- 
ity before the throne of God. Do you see those scars borne with 
him from Calvary ? Do you see the mitre on his brow and the 
fresh blood on his glittering robes ? Do you see him just ready 
to say to Him who sits upon the throne, " Here Father, here is 
the price for yonder soul," yet seemingly waiting to receive the 
word to proceed ? Sinner, he stands there ready to atone for you, 
and save you. He hesitates merely for you to say in sincerity 
" Lord save or I perish ! " and then his blood shall sheathe the 
sword and still the thunders which now threaten you. And have 
you any reason why you should not pray that prayer ? Distressed 
and wearied with your sins — tired of chasing phantoms and of 
gathering bubbles, is there no encouragement for you to say at 
once, "Dear Son of God, I come, I come!" Why would you 
think of slighting a Savior so willing to save you ? Oh, how base 
the ingratitude of conduct so monstrous as that of slighting such 



LECTURE XXIII. CHAPTER IX. 24. 



271 



a Friend ! Will the ragged beggar contemn the hand that clothed 
and fed him ? Will the drowning man turn with cold indifference 
from the friend who at the greatest peril brought him safely to the 
shore ? Will even the dog forget the master who caressed him, 
or the stupid ox the crib from which he was fed ? And will intel- 
ligent and immortal 7nan turn away with cold indifference from 
dying love, and dying love followed up with proffered mercy ! 
Will the pining sinner slight his only and waiting Savior — and 
the Savior too who has died to redeem him ! Oh God, how can 
it be ! " Hear, Oh heavens, and be astonished Oh earth !" 



LECTUREXXIV. 



THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Heb. X. 1 — 18. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the 
very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year 
by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not 
have ceased to be offered ? because that the worshippers once purged should have 
had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance 
again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of 
goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, 
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me : In 
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, 
I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt oflerings and offering for sin 
thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein ; which are offered by the law ; 
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that 
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the of- 
fering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily 
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away 
sins; But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on 
the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his 
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 
Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us : for after that he had said before, 
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, 
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; And 
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these 
is, there is no more offering for sin. 

These words conclude the masterly argument of our apostle on 
the priesthood of Jesus Christ. He here makes his last stroke to 
sever the cherished ties which yet bound many of his readers to Juda- 
ism. There were many reasons why the Jews should think highly 
of the Levitical institutions. From early infancy they were taught 
to look upon theirs as the only true religion on earth. The first 
lessons which they learned from maternal lips, told of the wonder- 
ful interpositions of God in their behalf in the days of the patri- 
archs — in Egypt — in the wilderness — and all along the thread of 
their history from Abraham to Moses, and Joshua, and David, and 
Solomon. The awful manner in which their law was given — the 
long list of honored worthies who had lived, flourished and triumph- 
antly died in the Jewish faith — together with the blessed and bril- 
liant promises annexed to the sincere observance of its solemn rites 
and noble ceremonies, reasonably begat in all of them a deep rev- 
erence and ardent attachment to the Mosaic religion. But at the 



LECTURE XXIV. — CHAPTER X. 1 — 18. 



273 



time when our epistle was written, salvation and life were no lon- 
ger designed to be found in those honored institutions. Having ful- 
filled the purpose of their establishment, they were numbered among 
the things w4iich belonged only to a past era. Having been alto- 
gether typical in their character, they had now passed into total 
desuetude at the presence of their great antitype. But though de- 
crepid and ready to pass away, many still clung to them as the vine 
to the dead and decaying oak in whose branches and boughs it once 
found ample support. Paul in this letter labored hard to detach 
them from the old and lifeless trunk, and fix them on the green, tall 
and vigorous scion which presented itself in the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ. His final effort to that effect is put forth in the text. Two 
points he here sets himself to prove : 1st. the impotency of the Le- 
vitical sacrifices; and 2nd, the entire sufficiency of the sacrifice of 
Jesus Christ. 

I. Let us then briefly consider the arguments by which the apos- 
tle proves the impotency and imperfection of the legal sacrifices. 

His first argument he draws from the nature of them. They were 
but " shadows of good things to come, and not the very image of 
the things." " The word shadow here refers to a rough outline of 
anything, a mere sketch, such as a carpenter draws with a piece of 
chalk, or such as an artist delineates wiien he is about to make a 
picture. He sketches an outline of the object w^hich he designs to 
draw, which has some resemblance to it, but is not the ' very image 
for it is not yet complete. The word rendered ' the very image' 
refers to a painting or statue which is finished, where every part is 
an exact copy of the original. The 'good things to come' here re- 
fer to the future blessings which would be conferred on man by the 
Gospel. The idea is, that under the ancient sacrifices there was 
an imperfect representation ; a dim outline of the blessings which 
the Gospel would impart to men. They were a typical represen- 
tation ; they were not such that it could be pretended that they 
would answer the purpose of the things themselves which they 
were to represent, and would make those w^ho offered them per- 
fect. Such a rude outline ; such a mere sketch, or imperfect de- 
lineation, could no more answer the purpose of saving the soul than 
the rough sketch which the architect makes would answer the pur- 
pose of a house, or than the first outline which a painter draws 
would answer the purpose of a perfect and finished portrait. All 
19 



274 



LECTURE XXIV. CHAPTER X. 1 18. 



that could be done by either would be to convey some distant and 
obscure idea of what the bouse or picture might be, and this was 
all that was done by the law of Moses." ^ 

The second argument adduced to prove the impotency of the le- 
gal sacrifices, is their continual repetition. They were " offered 
year by year continually," and hence would never make " the comer 
thereunto perfect." The simple fact that they were yearly repeat- 
ed, and that in behalf of the same individuals, showed that there 
must have been some deficiency about them. If those sacrifices 
had power to atone for sins, they then certainly would have ceased 
after being once presented. " The worshippers once purged should 
have had no more conscience of sins." That is, if they had so 
availed as to remove their sins by the procurement of a complete 
pardon, no more troubles of conscience would have any longer been 
felt on the subject. It would then have been unnecessary for these 
sacrifices to be repeated over and over again. From the fact then 
that in them there was " a remembrance again made of sins every 
year," it was unquestionably to be concluded that there was some- 
thing weak and imperfect in them. 

Again, the apostle argues the insufficiency of the legal sacrifices 
from the inferior victims which were slain on such occasions. 
"For it is not possible," says he, " that the blood of bulls and of 
goats should take away sins." No one would for a moment sup- 
pose that the blood of such animals was sufficient to expiate the 
sins of men. The blood of no mere creature, much less of such 
inferior creatures has sufficient efficacy to wash away the moral 
guiltiness of the sinner. This is a thing so clear, that the apostle 
asserts it without any fear of contradiction. 

The fourth argument of Paul on this point is drawn from the 
Holy Scriptures. He quotes from the 60th Psalm, not exactly ver- 
batim, but in its true sense and scope, where Christ when entering 
upon the duties of his Messiahship, is represented as addressing the 
Father, " Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast 
thou prepared me. In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sins thou 
hast had no pleasure : then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the 
book it is written of me) to do thy will O God." In this represen- 
tation the apostle argues that the impotency of the legal sacrifices 
is implied ; and moreover that when Christ came they were to pass 

^ Barnes in loc. 



LECTURE XXIV. CHAPTER X. 1 IS. 



275 



into obsoleteness. " Above, (i. e. in this quotation,) when he said, 
Sacrifices and offering and barnt-offerings and offering for sin thou 
wouldest not, neither hast pleasure therein ; which are presented 
according to the law; then he saith, Lo, I come to do thy will, O 
God ; (thus) he abolished the first, that he may establish the sec- 
ond." The pleasure and favor of God toward men did not depend 
upon the legal offerings. It was not these that he desired as a sat- 
isfaction for the sins of the guilty. His will was entirely something 
else, even that these sliould be totally abolished, and the sacrifice 
of Jesus Christ substituted in their place. 

By these several arguments the apostle has most conclusively 
shown the impotency and imperfection of the Levitical sacrifices, 
and that of themselves they could never secure the forgiveness and 
salvation of a single soul. But inseparably associated with the 
v/eakness of the old economy in the apostle's mind, was the glori- 
ous sufficiency of those provisions made in Jesus Christ. He de- 
clares that it is through that new arrangement which the Messiah 
came to establish that " we are sanctified, through the offering of 
the blood of Jesus Christ once for all." Let us then consider: 

II. The arguments wherewith he sets himself to prove the suffi- 
ciency of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. These are but two in num- 
ber, though strong in force. 

The first is the fact that it was made but once. Under the law 
" every high priest standeth daily ministering" says he, " and offer- 
ing oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins : 
but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat 
down on the right hand of God ; from henceforth expecting till his 
enemies be niade his footstool. For by one offering he hath per- 
fected for ever them that are sanctified." And as the continual 
repetition of the legal sacrifices most clearly proved their ineffici- 
ency, even so the fact of the once for aZZthat Christ's sacrifice was 
offered most clearly proves, that its Author considered it entirely 
sufficient to cover the v\'hole ground of human guilt from Adam 
down to the end of the world. It shows that in the estimation of 
the all-wise God and Sovereign of the universe, by whom it was 
accepted in covenant before the world began, it is competent for 
every expiatory purpose necessary to the complete salvation of be- 
lievers. It being once made, our glorious high priest could take 
his seat at the right hand of the heavenly Majesty, and wait there 



276 



LECTURE XXIV. — CHAPTER X. i 18. 



with sure expectation that he would one day see his enemies undeF 
his feet ; because that one offering is entirely sufficient to secure 
the final and eternal forgiveness of all who believe on his name. If 
that one sacrifice were not sufficient, how could Christ now appear 
in heaven as the representative of man ? Why is it that the Divine 
administrations go on so smoothly, and that the guilty earth has not 
been sunk and blasted and destroyed as it has deserved, if that bles- 
sed sacrifice was not entirely sufficient? Do not all the circum- 
stances preceding, attending, and following it, show that it was cor- 
rectly said, by one offering he hath perfected forever them that 
are sanctified ?" 

But the apostle introduces another witness — an infallible witness 
to the entire sufficiency of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is the 
witness of the holy Ghost — " wherefore the Holy Ghost also is a 
witness to us : for after that he had said before, This is the cove- 
nant that I will make with them. After those days, saith the Lord, 
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will 1 write 
them ; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." 
The apostle quotes from the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the 
coming and dispensation of Messiah. In this prophecy Jehovah 
promises as one of the distinguished blessings of the new covenant, 
that his laws should be put into the hearts of believers, and their 
sins and iniquities forgiven for ever. " Now where remission of 
these is, there is no more offering for sin." Christ Jesus had al- 
ready been shown to be the mediator of this new covenant which 
promised such glorious things ; and hence the unavoidable conclu- 
sion that his sacrifice is entirely sufficient. If it were not so, the 
Holy Ghost which cannot lie could not have declared this free and 
full pardon. But no reserve whatever is made. No sort of con- 
ditions are laid down. To every subject of the new covenant it is 
said, "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will 
I write them ; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember 
no more." Upon tliis glorious doctrine then, the great doctrine of 
the entire sufficiency of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, let us for a 
moment dwell. Oh that God may warm our hearts in the contem- 
plation ! 

Let us then in the first place look at it as the grand desideratum 
of all the people of the earth. It is a fact, my hearers, that " wher- 
ever a human being is found, there will be found a conscience, 



LECTURE XXIV. — CHAPTER X. 1 — 18. 



277 



however stupified, yet troubled and agitated with guilt. This is 
the curse which goeth forth over the face of the whole earth, and 
secretly appals the proudest, and flashes in upon the hardest, through 
all their steel and adamant, convictions which shake the soul with 
terror. Nor from this pressure of unpardoned sin has man ever 
found, nor will man ever find deliverance but by the blood of Christ. 
Let men affect to despise the Gospel and seek to persecute its min- 
isters and stifle its light; that Gospel has in their bosoms a minis- 
try they cannot resist, a radiance they cannot extinguish ; and even 
while his hands are reeking with persecution, the jailor exclaims, 
what must I do to be saved. Let men plunge into excesses, and 
seek in vice and revelry to drown the forebodings within, the fear- 
ful looking for of judgment; though they dig into hell, saith the 
Lord, there will I search them, though they dive into the sea, there 
will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them ; and amidst all 
liis delirious carousals Belshazzar's countenance changes, and the 
joints of his loins are loosed, and his knees smite one against another 
at a hand-writing which he cannot read. 

In a word, let men seek by mere repentance to atone for guilt, 
it is in vain. Everywhere the imploring cry is heard. Wherewith 
shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God ; 
shall I come before him with burnt-ofl'erings, with calves of a year 
old ; will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten 
thousands of rivers of oil ; shall I give my first-born for my trans- 
gression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? And blood, 
blood, flowing in every land, altars groaning with victims, heca- 
tombs smoking with gore, lacerating hooks and torturing pilgrim- 
ages, the reddened axles of Juggernaut, and the w^ail of anguished 
woman on the Ganges, proclaim the ineflicacy of repentance to 
give peace to the conscience."' The great want of a guilty world 
is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. To that the fingers of a thousand 
prophets pointed, and that the smoking victims of a thousand altars 
typified. From Adam down to the days of the Savior it was held 
upas the only hope; and from his crucifixion until now it was 
preached as the only hope ; and down till the latest generations of 
time it will be preached as the only hope. And, blessed be God, 
from the rude altar which wicked soldiers 1800 years ago planted 
on Mount Calvary, there floats down a voice, saying, " Look unto 

'Baptist Preacher for 1846, p. 134. 



278 



LECTURE XXIV. CHAPTER X. 1 18. 



me all ye ends of the earth and be saved !" Out of those cries, 
and tears, and bloody drops came a blessing- which millions sought 
but never found, and which is now waking up the voice of praise 
to the ends of the earth, and putting shouts of halleluia into the lips 
of the dead ! And where the knowledge of the Savior's sacrifice 
has not yet gone, it would not be extravagant to say, the earnest 
expectation of the creature waiteth for its manifestation, and the 
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together for a deliv- 
erance which it alone can effect. Aye, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ 
is " the desire of all nations" — " the pearl of great price." 

Let us secondly, look at the sacrifice of the Savior as a monu- 
ment of the Divine glory. The heavens, in all their varied beau- 
ties and vast and boundless magnificence, proclaim the glory of 
God. But this far outshines the wonders of the skies. It is to the 
Lord emphatically for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beau- 
ty. In two ways does it exhibit the Divine glory ; first by furnish- 
ing an imperishable monument of his perfections, and secondly by 
securing the allegiance and everlasting services and praises of mil- 
lions of aliens and rebels. 

The sacrifice of Christ will be unto the Lord a bright and im- 
perishable monument of his love. " God so loved the world that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life." Nowhere else did 
this perfection receive such a complete and tender exemplification. 
This was love which overlooked the most aggravated causes of 
alienation and hatred, it prompted to the most astounding humilia- 
tion and sufiering, it described the wide disparity between offended 
heaven and guilty earth, and looks to the salvation of uncounted 
multitudes from the death of sin and their exaltation to the sublim- 
ities of everlasting life. "Behold, what manner of love the Father 
hath bestowed upon us." Behold, and say, was ever love like 
this ! 

It will be to the Lord a monument of liis poicer. The work of 
creation itself does not display a more wonderful putting forth of 
his power. A word called a world into existence ; but a word 
could not call it back when it had wandered from its orbit. It re- 
quired a far more wonderful expedient. 

It will be to the Lord a monument of \m justice. The lightnings 
which blasted rebel angels, and the awful thunders ever rolling in 



liECTURE XXIV. — CHAPTER X. 1 18. 



279 



the prison-house of the damned, speak the language of Jehovah^s 
justice ; but the tears — the groans — the dying agonies of the great 
Redeemer give to this attribute a voice more awful still. If God 
spared not his own Son when he was found in the room and stead 
of sinners, if the awful mandate went forthj "Awake, O sword, 
against my Shepherd how deep and eternal must be his abhor- 
rence of sin, and his purpose to punish it? Surely, while the glad 
notes of salvation are being chaunted on the plains of glory, there 
will be a voice mingling in the song, and crying to the universe, 
" Stand in awe, and sin not." 

The sacrifice of Christ will also be to the Lord a monument of 
his wisdom. How wonderfully it brings together conflicting prin- 
ciples without touching upon the rights or honor of either. How 
gloriously it dispenses pardon to the criminal, and at the same time 
authority and grandeur to the law. One has said, " when man 
sinned, methinks holy angels struck their harps in plaintive strains, 
and cried, alas ! he is gone. They had seen the direful effects of 
sin before — they had seen it seize upon angelic natures, and thin 
the ranks of heaven ; and when man sinned, doubtless they expect- 
ed that man would share in a similar doom. How can it be other- 
wise.^ Will God cease to be just? Will he suffer the honors of 
his government to be trampled in the dust? Perish such a thought 
as this. It cannot be. Methinks, it is repeated from world to 
world ^ it cannot be ; and echoed back in dismal strains it cannot be. 
Then man is lost, forever lost ! Amid this consternation, a voice 
is heard sweeter than the voice of an angel, or the harp of a ser- 
aph — it comes from him who is the brightness of the Father's glory 
and the express image of his person. ' Lo I come ! to do thy will 
O God ! I will take the sinner's place. In my bosom shall the 
sword of justice be sheathed. I will make the great atonement.' 
What new mystery is this? Angels stooping from their lofty seats 
in glory, desire to look into it. And in all parts of the universe 
the song is sung, ' O the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom 
and the knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, 
and his ways past finding out!' " ^ 

But to form a complete estimate of the glory which the Redeem- 
er's sacrifice brings to God, we must also take into the account that 

new song" which none could learn but they which are redeemed 

'Baker's " Christ the Mediator," p. 23. 



280 



LECTURE XXIV. — CHAPTER X. 1 — 18. 



from the earth, and which is to be sung before the throne in the 
midst of heaven's bright orders forever and ever. Surely it brings 
'•''glory to God in the highest!^'' 

Finally, let us briefly look at the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the 
great subject of the christian's glory. There have been those in 
all ages of the christian era who have looked upon the death of 
Christ more as a thing of contempt than of glorying. It has been 
singled out as the thing most notoriously prominent in infamy. In 
the eyes of many, it was the death of a criminal — of an odious trai- 
tor — of a detestable impostor — of a vile slave. The Jews looked 
upon it as of all things the most cursed. The Gentiles viewed it 
with thrilling scorn and contempt. Nevertheless, the holy apostles 
were not ashamed to preach " Christ and him crucified ;" and the 
cross has ever been the christian's highest glory. 

And the christian glories in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, because 
it is the great foundation of his hopes. Because the Savior died, 
he believes that his ten thousand damning sins have been atoned for 
and forgiven, and that the hallowed smile of his reconciled God 
beams on him. Because the Savior died, he anticipates death with 
the glad belief that it is not an eternal sleep, and marches to his 
tomb with all its damps and horrors, as the place wherein to dress 
himself for heaven — as the attiring room for corruption to put on 
incorruption and fit him for the beatific vision. And because the 
Savior died, he looks forward with transporting hope to the day 
when he shall be clothed with the unsullied habiliments of glory 
and join with the glittering throngs of the ransomed in ascribing 
^' Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb." 

He glories in the sacrifice of Christ again, because it is the great 
consideration which urges him to obedience and faithfulness to God. 
There is a very affecting incident recorded by the great Roman 
historian connected with the death of Manlius. When the Gauls 
were threatening to overwhelm the capitol, at night he stood upon 
its walls and fought hand to hand, until he had repelled them and 
saved the city. Afterwards he was accused ; but the capitol tow- 
ered in sight of the forum where he was tried, and as he was about 
to be condemned he stretched out his hands and pointed weeping 
to that arena of his triumph. At this the people burst into tears, 
and the judges could not pronounce sentence. Again the trial pro- 



LECTURE XXIV. — CHAPTER X. 1 18. 



281 



ceeded, but again in the same way it was defeated ; nor could he 
be convicted until they had removed him to a low spot from which 
the capitol was invisible. And so, my brethren, while the cross is 
in view, vainly will earth and sin seek to shake the christian's loy- 
alty and devotion. One look at that bloody monument of a love 
which alone and when all was dark and lost interposed for our res- 
cue, and all their efforts will be baffled. Low must he sink, and 
blotted from his heart must be the memory of that deed, before he 
can become faithless to his Redeemer or perfidious to his glory. 
There is a power in the cross which crucifies him unto the Vv^orld, 
and crucifies the world unto him — it is the great propelling motive 
to holiness and love — the source of those sweet streams which 
water the ilowery Eden of the church. 

Yes, there is glory in the cross. Tt was a glorious Savior who 
died upon it. It was a glorious love which led him to die. It was 
a glorious object to redeem a world. And it is unspeakable glory 
which it has secured for the righteous. Oh, who would not glory 
in such an instrument — in such a badge! Who would censure the 
apostle for that bold and vehement expression, " God forbid that I 
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Wealth 
he no doubt once had at his command — his learning was vast and 
his genius mighty — authority, honor and power were within his 
reach, but he gloried only in the cross. Heaven grant that we may 
be animated with the same magnanimous spirit ! 

My direction then is, my hearers, if you wish to find the only 
sufficient sacrifice ever made for sins, go to the cross of Jesus. 
There you will find it flowing with virtue free and exhaustless as 
the love which provided it. If you wish to have the fullest and 
most glorious exhibition of the perfections of God, go to the cross 
of Jesus. There you will find lengths and breadths and depths 
and heights in the Divine government, and the Divine nature which 
the universe never previously beheld. If you wish to find a sub- 
ject in which to repose your confidence and honor without fear of 
ever coming to shame, go to the cross of Jesus. It is this in which 
apostles, and martyrs, and reformers gloried, and in which ransomed 
millions in heaven are this day glorying. And if you wish to find 
the consideration to melt and move your hard and faithless heart, 
go to the cross of Jesus. Meditate upon the awful scenes of Cal- 
vary, and look at the sufferings of the blessed Son of God to save 



2.82 



LECTURE XXIV. — CHAPTER X. 1 18. 



you from eternal perdition; and if anything can excite your emo- 
tions, you will find them excited there. Aye, the cross, the cross ! 
the cross first — the cross last — -the cross now and forever! Cling 
to it; rely on it; place your hope in it; and make it the subject of 
your highest honor. In health and in sickness, in prosperity and 
in adversity, at home and abroad, among friends and among ene- 
mies, in life and in death, in time and in eternity, cleave ye only to 
the cross. Therein lies your strength, your safety, and your glory 
It will be an anchor to your soul, a guide to your path, and a pass- 
port to conduct you into the mansions of the redeemed in heaven. 

And particularly to those of you who have not yet decided with 
the whole heart in favor of the religion of Jesus, do I hold up and 
recommend the cross. Here it is, in all its grandeur, and in all its 
glory. It is held out to you with all the cordiality and freeness as 
when this v/ork devolved on apostlic hands. There is not one sin- 
gle blessing, and its blessings are many, which it has conferred on 
any soul, which it will not confer upon you, if you embrace it as 
others have done before you. Look then to this as your last and 
only hope. Pray God in all earnestness to make it the effectual 
instrument of your salvation. And settling down your whole con- 
fidence and dependence in its merit, praise the wondrous love which 
has provided it, nor once doubt the certainty of your salvation. I 
tender to you then the gladsome invitation of your Savior, " Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me : for I am meek 
and lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Fo^ 
my yoke is easy and my burden is light," 



LECTURE XXV, 



OUR PRIVILEGES AND DUTIES UNDER THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

Heb. X. *!9 — 25, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by 
the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us 
through the veil, tliat is to say, his flesh ;^And having an high priest over the house 
of Go^ ; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our 
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering ; (for he is faithful 
that promised ;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good 
works : Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some 
is ; but exhorting one another : and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

Having now gone through with the argumentative part of the 
epistle, the apostle here begins a course of hortatory and somewhat 
miscellaneous remarks. He had s-one into a minute and extensive 

o 

examination of the Jewish and Christian systems. He had compa- 
red their founders and showed how far superior the Son of God is to 
Moses. He had compared their priesthoods, and showed the great 
superiority of our High Priest. He had compared their sacrifices, 
and showed that in all respects the Christian sacrifice was superior 
to the Jewish. And having thus addressed the judgment of his 
readers, he now proceeds to exhort them to avail themselves fully 
of all their superior advantages, and to enjoy to the widest extent 
all the privileges v/hich Christianity now conferred on them. And 
as we have found much to delight and edify us in our previous en- 
deavors to follow the apostle, we will doubtless be abundantly re- 
warded for our toil in endeavoring to follow him to the end. 

The first things in the text which will claim our attention, are 
the declarations which he makes; and when these are disposed of 
we will consider the duties to which he exhorts. 

I. The apostle declares, and the declaration is fully sustained by 
his previous argument, that a way to heaven has been opened through 
Jesus Christ. He calls it a way ; i. e. fresh — recent. (Pas- 

sow.) It does not so much convey the idea that it is iieic in the 
sense that it had never been in existence before, as neio in the sense 
that it is recent or fresh. It was a way which had just been newly 
opened — one which was recently disclosed — one which had all the 
freshness of novelty. 



284 



LECTURE XXV. CHAPTER X. 19 25. 



He also calls it a living^'' way. It may be thus entitled because 
it is a method that imparts life, or because it is a way which con- 
ducts to life. It may be called a living way in allusion to the fact, 
that under the old dispensation the blood was to be offered as soon 
as it was shed, and not after it had once coagulated; and hence 
fresh. But the word is frequently used in the sense of perenyiial, 
perpetual : as when applied to a fountain always running, in oppo- 
sition to a pool which dries up. It is a perpetual way. It is a way 
continually open like a stream always running. 

He further calls it a " consecrated^^ way. To consecrate a way, 
is to open it for access, to dedicate it to use. The way to heaven 
then, is a way to be used. It is not for a mere show, but to be 
walked by sinners — to be travelled to the eternal sanctuary. 

He also declares that it is a way over which we have " boldness.,'^'' 
or as the margin of the Bible has it, " liberty^'' to pass and enter the 
holy place above. No enemy — no restraining influences are tole- 
rated on it. " No lion shall be there," said a prophet of old. It 
is open for all, and any one may ^valk there with full freedom and 
liberty. 

2. A second declaration which the apostle makes in the text, and 
which is also borne out by the previous discussion, is, that we have 
an high Priest over the house of God. By the house of God w^e 
are to understand the spiritual family of the redeemed — the church. 
The meaning is, that as under the old dispensation there was a high 
priest through whom access was had to the mercy-seat, so also un- 
der the new there is a great high priest through whom we have 
access to the throne of grace. 

The great and characteristic privileges of the new dispensation 
are then, that each individual may personally, freely, and continu- 
ally have access to God and to heaven through Jesus Christ. The 
securement of these was a cause worthy of the wisdom, goodness 
and attention of a God. Their conferment upon sinful and unde- 
serving man, should for ever bind him in allegiance to the eternal 
throne. 

With these brief remarks I will call your attention to the duties 
to which the apostle exhorts. " Having therefore, brethren, bold- 
ness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and 
living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that 
is to say, his flesh ; and having an high priest over the house of 



LECTURE XXV. — CHAPTER X. 19 — 25. 



285 



God ; let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, 
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies 
washed with pure water. 

In these words we are exhorted and encouraged to draw near ; 
some have thought to draw near to God. But a more ready and 
obvious sense is, to draw near " the holiest" (or heaven) by passing- 
over this " new and living way" which has been opened for us 
through the flesh of Christ. The idea is, that we shall avail our- 
selves of the exalted privileges which the new dispensation pre- 
sents to us. Since we have liberty to enter into the holiest, we are 
to exercise this liberty. And since we have an High Priest, we 
are to employ him and secure all the benefits of his mediation. 
This is unquestionably the nature of the duty here presented. The 
manner in which it is to be performed is also clearly laid down. 

Ist. To be saved, or to secure salvation as it has been provided 
in Jesus, we must be sincere in our desires and efforts. We are to 
draw near with a true heart.''^ It is utterly useless to talk or think 
of being saved, unless we sincerely desire it and seek for it. Many 
people would like to get to heaven, but they wish to do it dishon- 
estly. I say dishonestly., because they at the same time cleave to 
the world. They desire heaven greatly, but they love their pleas- 
ures and their sins too much to give them up. They sigh anxious- 
ly for the joys and privileges of Paradise, but they will not 
give up their wallowings to go and realize them. With such there 
is no trueness of heart. Men must act in this matter sincerely. 
They must set about the thing as if they really desired and were 
honestly and fully determined by Divine grace to get to heaven. 
They must be willing to relinquish family — kindred — houses — 
lands — life — every thing for its possession. So strong must be the 
decision, so resolved must be the purpose, that no circumstances or 
emergencies whatever will be able to affect or change it. This is 
the trueness of heart of which the apostle speaks, and which is es- 
sential to salvation. 

2nd. Another thing which is indispensable to the securement of 
pardon and final admission into heaven, is " full assurance of faith" 
— unwavering confidence — a fullness of faith in God which leaves 
no room for doubt. As the apostle says in another place, " He 
that comethto God must believe that he is, and that he is a reward- 
er of them that diligently seek him." And certainly it is not hard 



286 



LECTURE XXV. — CHAPTER X. 19 — 25. 



to exercise such a confidence in God. I think this was abundantly 
shown when we had occasion to consider the immutability of his 
purpose. If he were in any sense, or in any respect finite and de- 
pendent, then there would be room for doubt. But as he is the 
eternal and infinite sovereign of the universe, and has declared by 
two immutable things in which it was impossible for him to lie that 
every true believer in Jesus shall be saved, how can any one doubt 
or hesitate. J* Can we ask any blessing which he who holds all the 
vast resources of the universe at his command cannot confer ? Can 
we question the validity of that contract which was proved by the 
Divine oath and ratified by the death of his only Son ? How easy 
then to step upon that new and living way in full assurance of faith ? 
God cannot disappoint us if we are faithful. 

3d. Another thing necessary in order that we may draw near in 
the sense of the text, is, to have our consciences relieved of guilt — 
" our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.'' An evil conscience^ 
is a conscience burdened with unpardoned guilt. To be sprinkled 
from an evil conscience, is to have that sense of sin removed. The 
expression is borrou^ed from the rites of the law, agreeably to 
which very many ceremonial purifications were made by the sprink- 
ling of blood upon the persons or utensils. And as ceremonial un- 
cleanness was removed under the law, so our self-accusing con- 
sciences must be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ spiritually 
applied. Our sins must be pardoned — we must be justified. This 
will be done the very moment we look toward the Savior. ^ The 
very instant that we entirely relinquish the world and cling to Jesus 
we have peace, our sins are blotted out, and our hearts are sprinkled 
from an evil conscience. But this must be done before we can en- 
ter upon that new and living way which leads to glory. 

4th. But in order to avail ourselves of the benefits of Christ's 
ipediation, there is another thing necessary. We must have " our 
bodies washed with pure water." This is another expression bor- 
rowed from the frequent washings prescribed by the Levitical law 
for the sake of external purification. It here denotes the impor- 
tance and necessity of christian baptism, — at any rate that internal 
regeneration which baptism represents. And just as the Jewish 
priest had first to wash his flesh before he could enter into the in- 
ner tabernacle, so we must be internally cleansed and renewed be- 
fore we can have admission into the true sanctuary above. It is 



LECTURE XXV. — CHAPTER X. 19—25. 



287 



.Tmportant that we partake of the holy sacrament of baptism and 
thus confess our Savior before men ; but it is indispensable that we 
be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God. " Verily^ ver- 
ily^''^ says Christ, " except a man be born of water, and of the Spir- 
it, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And under ordinary 
circumstances, no minister has a right to say any man can be saved 
without being baptized both by water and by the Spirit. 

In order then to make your way to heaven^, my hearers, you see 
what is necessary. You must set about it with earnestness and 
sincerity, you must venture unbounded confidence in God, you must 
be justified, you must be regenerated. May the Lord help you to 
attend to these things ! 

The second thing to which the apostle exhorts, is expressed in 
these words : " Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without 
wavering, for he is faithful that promised." 

One of the prominent objects of this epistle was, to preserve the 
Jewish converts to Christianity from apostasy, Tlie persecutions 
which they were suffering on account of their christian profession 
placed them in great danger of this. And as these persecutions 
came mainly from the Jews, and were designed to induce them to 
return to their former opinions,. the apostle endeavored to show, 
that the christian system possessed every advantage — nay advant- 
ages far superior to those of which the Jews could boast. And 
having argued and settled this point, he now encourages them to 
hold fast their profession with a firmness which neither their trials 
nor the arguments of their enemies could shake ; especially since 
God who had promised salvation is faithful and unchangeable. 

The religion which Paul thus advocated, is the same religion 
now that it ever was» Its superior excellence is the same. We 
have the same Savior — the same sacrifice — the same heavenly pros- 
pects which the early christians had. God will be as faithful to 
us as he was to them. Then let us too hold fast the profession of 
our faith without wavering. Whatever losses we may sustain, let 
us be careful not to lose our religion. Especially in this day of 
fanaticism, error, and infidelity, let us be careful not to be driven 
to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but stand firmly upon the 
foundation of Christ and his apostles. What if we are branded as 
the maddened dupes of superstition and folly ; let us rather be 
scorned, and trampled, and burned, with tlie glad hopes which our 



^88 



LECTUUE XXV. CHAPTER X. 19 25. 



religion inspires, lest by giving up the firm anchor of our faith we 
drift without chart, or helm, or compass into the shoreless ocean of 
impiety and blood ! 

A third duty urged in the text, the apostle expresses thus, " And 
let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good 
works." By this he means " that it is the duty of the Hebrews to 
cherish a mutual spirit of interest or concern for each other ; and 
this in such a way as should be the means of mutually exciting 
each other to more distinguished benevolence and good works." 
(Stuart in loc.) They were not to be concerned only for their in- 
dividual good, but to extend their care to the whole brotherhood 
of believers. They were not selfishly to regard only their own 
personal interests; but let all share each others sympathies, and 
V\^eigh well the general welfare. 

And as christians now have the same duties to perform, and simi- 
lar trials to meet, this exhortation applies with the same force and 
propriety to us as to the Jews. We too are to strengthen each 
other in our trials, and encourage each other in every good word 
and w^ork. W e are not to suspect the motives and cry down the 
influence of those whom we find actively engaged in trying to do 
good. Our duty is to encourage them, to excite them to greater 
love and still more vigorous efforts, and in every possible way to 
hold up their hands. They are our brethren. They are striving 
to promote the same cause which we profess to love. Some suc- 
ceed best in one way, some in another. And though every thing is 
not done in the way which we would adopt, still it is our duty to 
consider each other, and endeavor to help each other along in what 
each conceives to be duty. We all have our peculiar besetments 
and trials, and we should always try to strengthen each other against 
these temptations. We are to bear one another's burdens, and thus 
fulfill the law of Christ. That singular reserve in approaching 
each other on religious experience and interests is to be broken up. 
We are -to look upon each other as members of the same family, 
with common interests, and as sharing in the responsibility of each 
ones conduct. Brethren, let us heed the exhortation, and " con- 
sider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." 

The fourth duty urged in the text, is attention to public worship. 
W e are not to " forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as 
the manner of some is." 



LECTURE XXV. CHAPTER X. 19 25. 



289 



It appears that in the time of the apostle there were some chris- 
tian professors who neglected to attend upon the public worship of 
God. Either for fear of persecution, a want of interest in these 
exercises, doubts of their propriety, or on account of some con- 
gregational disturbances, or some other pretext they did not assem- 
ble for public worship. And must we not fear that this neglect — 
this culpable delinquency, has an existence with many " who pro- 
fess and call themselves christians" in the present day ^ Do we not 
find hundreds for the same or similar reasons absenting themselves 
from week to week from the sanctuary } My hearers, such things 
are utterly incompatible with the spirit of Christianity and our 
growth in saving grace. It is wrong — it is wicked. Nothing but 
inability to attend, or the want of capacity to be benefited can ex- 
cuse it in any. We all owe it to God as our Creator and Sover- 
eign to acknowledge him publicly, and our own growth in piety is 
materially connected with the faithful discharge of this duty. It is 
impossible for a man to secure the advancement of religion in his 
soul who habitually neglects public worship, and religion will not 
flourish in any community where it is not regularly celebrated. 

There are great advantages growing out of these assemblies for 
Divine worship. " God has made us social beings, and he intends 
that the social principle shall be called into exercise in religion, as 
well as in other things. We have common wants, and it is proper 
to present them together before the mercy-seat. We have received 
common blessings in our creation, in the Providence of God, and 
in redemption, and it is proper that we should assemble together 
and render united praise to our Maker for his goodness. Besides, 
in any community, the public worship of God does more to pro- 
mote intelligence, order, peace, harmony, friendship, neatness of 
apparel, and purity and propriety of intercourse among neighbors, 
than anything else can, and for which nothing else can be a com- 
pensation."^ God has also made special promises in reference to 
these public celebrations of his praises. It is written, " The Lord 
loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." 
And the Savior says, " Wherever two or three are met together 
in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The great and 
wise and good of all ages have admitted the importance of public 
worship, and have sanctioned it with their own example. Rather 

'Barnes' Notes in loc. 

20 



290 



LECTURE XXV. — CHAPTER X. 19 — 25. 



than relinquish their assemblies for this purpose, some of t!ie early 
christians held them in caves, and at night, and often at the peril of 
their lives. And though some of them did neglect this matter, it 
was with the censure of the apostle and at the peril of their souls. 
It is then the obvious and settled duty of all christians, and of all 
men, to attend and support the public worship of God. Nay, it is 
rather a delightful and glorious privilege. May it not be hoped 
that it will be more faithfully improved by this community than it 
hitherto has been } Ah, how have the gates of Zion mourned in 
desolation, whilst the roads, fields, public houses, and the streets 
have been thronged ! How often have the hearts of God's minis- 
ters been saddened at the cold neglect paid to his sanctuary — his 
word — and his worship ! Never do you^ my brethren, contribute 
to the perpetuation of such a state of things. Unless Providence 
prevent, let your seat always be filled. When summoned to join 
the public congregation, never hesitate while there is a possibility 
for you to comply. If it can be, make it a point to have your voice 
mingled in every public song of praise, and your heart united in 
every public prayer. And do not forsake the assembling of your- 
selves together. 

Finally, the apostle urges upon his christian brethren, to exhort 
one another; and so much the more as they saw the day approach- 
ing. 

This duty of mutual exhortation I have heretofore explained.^ 
The idea is, that they should consult and counsel each other. To 
admonish each other of their errors and dangers; and in a frater- 
nal way to encourage each other to faithfulness. And as a special 
motive for the discharge of this duty, the apostle directs their 
minds to some great event which was expected soon to occur. And 
by the fearful revelations of that " cZai/," he calls upon them to be 
diligent and faithful. 

A great deal of difficulty and discussion have resulted in endeav- 
oring to determine to what particular event the apostle here alludes. 
Some have thought that he refers to the destruction of the Jewish 
temple and slate; others, that he refers to the tinie when the indi- 
viduals addressed were to render an account to the Lord for the 
manner in which they improved the 'privileges of the Gospel; 
whilst not a few of recent commentators have thought that he re- 

'Lectaro VII., p. 16. 



LECTURE XXV. CHAPTER X. 19-^25. 



291 



fers to the day when Christ will come again to the earth and begia 
his visible mediatorial reign. Each of these parties argue with 
much force and with apparent truth. My own opinion is, that he 
refers to all these things, and that the whole controversy and dif- 
ficulty have grown out of a too narrow conception of the scope of 
prophecy. Bacon says, there is a " latitude which is agreeable 
and familiar unto Divine prophecies, being of the nature of the au- 
thor with whom a thousand years are but as one day, and therefore 
they are not fulfilled punctually at once, hut have springing and 
germinant accomplishment throughout many ages, though the height 
or fulness of them may refer to some one age." The " height and 
fulness" of the day here spoken of, I consider the day of Christ's 
second coming, when. he shall "give unto every-man according as 
his work shall be;" and the spring and germ of it, I regard the 
fearful destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity. I have no 
time now to multiply proofs ; but I feel confident that a critical ex- 
amination of the xxiv. of Matthew, where the nature and trans- 
actions of this awful '■^ daif are so minutely and graphically des- 
cribed, will furnish sufficient ground for this opinion. There we 
have a connected prophecy, some parts of which cannot be limited 
to the simple destruction of Jerusalem ; and other parts interwoven 
which cannot be carried forward to the second coming of Christ. 
Yet it is but one prophecy. How then can it be satisfactorily in- 
terpreted, but by ascribing to it that " latitude''' concerning wdiich 
Bacon speaks } According to this too, is the correct rendering of 
the Savior's declaration, " Verily, verily. This generation shall not 
pass, till all these things be (not fulfilled , as our version has it, but) 
Juljillingy^ The prophecy includes the destruction of Jerusalem, 
the rendering of our account to God, and the second coming of 
Christ. This is what the apostles so often call that day ^"^^ and 
which the early christians saw approaching. The subject of this 
prophecy, in its " springing and germinant accomplishment" and 
in its " height and fulness," is the significant motive which Paul 
presents to urge his brethren to fidelity. 

And do not we also see that day approaching.^ Are we not 
rapidly hastening unto the coming of the day of God, whereia 
the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat.^^" Are we not much nearer and upon the 

'Cunningliam on the Apocalypse, p. 311. 



202 



LECTURE XXV. — CHAPTER X. 19 — 25. 



very verge of that day in its most significant and important sense f 
" What manner of persons ought we then to be, in all holy conver- 
sation and godliness ?" That is a day which shall first bring to 
light the full advantages of Christianity. Then will the importance 
of its gracious provisions be seen and felt in a manner and to an 
extent in which it was never seen or felt before. Then will first 
be seen the supreme foolishness of those who neglect the great 
salvation of the Gospel. With what shame shall such then take 
their stand on the left hand of the Judge, and with what eternal 
dismay shall they hear the sentence, " Depart from me, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" 

My brethren, let us then make it the great business of our lives — 
the great object of our existence, to secure an interest in the redemp- 
tion of Jesus Christ. And since we now have liberty to enter into 
the holiest by a new and living way, let us draw near in the way of 
Divine appointment, and secure the promise to our souls. And let 
all do it at once, for there is danger in delay. "Behold, now is the 
accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." Improve it 
then as such. Live to die, that you may die to live. And whilst 
with an humble and believing heart you rest in Christ, you have 
the blessed hope within you that the day is coming when you shall 
shine as the stars in the kingdom of your Father. 



LECTURE XXTI. 



THE FEARFUL GUILT AND PUN'ISHMEXT OF REJECTI>'G CHRIST. 

Heb. X. 26 — 31. For if we sin wilfjlly after t'lat we liave received the knowledge 
of the truth, there reraaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain feartlil look- 
ing for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He 
that despised Moses' law died without mercy uijdert^o or three witnesses : of how 
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trod- 
den under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, 
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the 
Spirit of grace r For we known him that hath said. Vengeance belongeth unto 
me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again. Tiie Lord shall judge his peo- 
ple. If is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 

The apostle had ju5t exlioned liis brethren to avail themselves 
fully of all the privileges of that new dispensation of which he had 
lately made such an able defense. Here he presents some further 
considerations addressed mostly to their fears, in order to induce 
them to attend promptly and diligently to the matter. He goes on 
to show them that to refuse this would be a sin of no ordinary char- 
acter, but one of the most fearful guilt, and which would be visited 
with the most fearful condemnation. For if we sin wilfully after 
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth 
no more sacrihce for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judg- 
ment and hery indignation whichi shall devour the adversaries. He 
that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three 
witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he 
be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, 
and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he w"as sanctified, 
an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace.- For 
we know him tljat hath said, ^'engeance is mine, I \^'ill render it, 
saith the Lord ; and again. The Lord will avenge his people. It 
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 

In addressing you from these solemn words, I will first attempt 
to show the fearful guilt of rejecting Christ and his religion; and 
secondly, consider the fearful punishment which must inevitably be- 
fal those who are guilty of it. 



29i 



LECTURE XXVI, — CHAPTER X. 26 — 31. 



1. It is to be observed, that to refuse to accept of saTvatioo 
through Jesus Christ, is a sin of deliberate choice — ivilful s\n. If 
it were only a slight oversight — a trifling inadvertence, there might 
be some excuse for it. If it were something to which the uncon- 
trolled pressure of circumstances drove for a little while, it Avould 
not be so bad. But it is a thing which the wicked mean. This is 
a charge which we must bring to the door of every ungodly man 
and woman. If any of you are out of Christ and at hostilities with 
him, it is because you choose to occupy such a position. You can- 
not plead ignorance as the cause, nor shield yourself under some 
fierce necessity. You are not pious because you prefer not to be. 
You are in your sins and in your blood because you love and desire 
to be in them. It is your own settled resolution not to repent nor 
believe. And even if you have some thought of attending to these 
things hereafter, it is nevertlieless your deliberate decision not to 
attend to them just now. I appeal to the consciousness of every 
sinner for the truth of tiiis remark. And does this circumstance 
not impart a peculiar aggravation to your guilt.? To reject Christ, 
and to refuse obedience to his religion is to declare sin preferable 
to holiness — this world more desirable than heaven — Satan a better 
master than Jehovah, to make Christ and all his apostles liars and 
impostors, and to fly daringly into the very face of Deity with the 
puny arm of insult and rebellion. All this the impenitent not only 
do, but do it as a measure of calm deliberation. 

2. Not only so, but they do it against the clear convictions of 
their hearts. They sin against the knowledge of the truth. Every 
sinner is well aware that he is doing wrong. There is not a step 
he takes in the path of impiety that does not carry this impression 
to his heart. The Divinity of religion, and its consequent claims 
upon every one, are obvious and decided. The I'elations in which we 
all stand to God as Creator and Preserver show that it is our duty to 
serve him. A thousand considerations prove that the Bible is the 
real and infallible word of God, and that the duties which it enjoins 
are those which God requires from us. Internal proofs, external 
evidences, and collateral facts ; prophecies, miracles, and experi- 
ence, all enter into the grand demonstration that religion is true. 
And a secret conviction in the heart of the veriest infidel concedes 
the same. Reason and conscience combine to make the obligations 
of Christianity clear and indisputable. These faculties are the 



LECTURE XXVI. — CHAPTER X. 26 — 31. 



295 



highest ornaments of our nature ; they alone distinguish us from 
brutes, make us resemble God, and render us subjects of a moral 
government. They are the lights which a gracious God has given 
for our guidance, and what they decide to be right is the highest 
and most binding of all law. He that sins against their combined 
and decided direction violates his most solemn and forcible obliga- 
tions, and incurs a guilt which is fearful and inexpressible. Yet 
such is the conduct of those who reject Jesus Christ. They face 
the fiercest array of moral force— stifle the noblest impulses of the 
soul — trample reason into the dust — and must incur an amount of 
guilt which makes one tremble 1o contemplate. 

3. To refuse submission to Christ is also a sin against the only 
means of sal vation. Were there any other possible hope of being 
saved such conduct might be excused. But he that refuses Christ 
rejects the only foundation and spurns the only Savior. " For if 
We sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the 
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." God has no 
more sons to die, and his mercy has no other outlet. The name of 
Jesus is the only name given under heaven among men whereby we 
can be saved. Bethlehem furnishes the only star to guide us to the 
world of glory. Calvary's cross alone can unlock for us the pearly 
gates of the New Jerusalem. " For other foundation can no man 
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Prayers, and tears, 
and fasts, and sacrifices, and good works unless founded on him are 
all in vain. Turning from him^ you turn from the fountain of living 
waters into the dreary desert. Refusing to be guided by /lim, you 
dismiss the only captain who can take you safely over the boister- 
ous ocean of life. Declining to serve /w'm, you decline the service 
of the only master who holds the brilliant laurels of everlasting 
reward. 

"There is but one physician, can cure a sin-sick soul.'' 

How aggravated is the guilt of him who will thus by one act crush 
and extinguish all his hopes of heavenly glory ! Flow bitter the 
curses which rest upon him who would thus turn from the genial 
warmth and light of the sun to wander amid the freezing solitudes 
of a starless and interminable night ! 

4. And as a refusal to submit to Christ and believe in him is a 
sin against the only Deliverer, so it is also a sin against the highest 
interests of the immortal soul. What a wonderful thing is the hu- 



296 



LECTURE XXVIr — CHAPTER X. 26 31. 



man soul ! Sprung from the breast of Deity, it possesses capacities 
and powers becoming its origin, and is destined to live co-eval with 
the God w^ho gave it being. It was created to rise in expansion, 
and power, and glory to all eternity — to be the associate of angelic 
orders — and towering in grandeur amid the spirits that burn before 
the throne of God, to be the immortal representative of his crea- 
tive energy and redeeming love. How base the wretch who would 
fetter its povi^ers and debase its glory ! Yet this is ^vhat every re- 
jecter of Christ effectually does. He would drag it down from its 
sublime and lofty walks, ulcerate and deform it, and bury it up in 
the fiery tomb of an endless hell. Where the Savior's blood is not 
applied, it is diseased, and bound, and tending to ah immortality of 
corruption and decay. He who refuses submission to Jesus, out- 
rages it, mocks it, tramples it, and adds tenfold to its ruin. Like 
the impious fool who would go out with an electric rod into the 
storm and call down upon his head the dreadful discharge of heav- 
en's fierce artillery ; so the rejecter of Christ rushes into the sweep- 
ing tempests of Divine wrath, and is riven by the everlasting thun- 
ders which shake the throne of God ! Is there no guilt in this ? 

5. To reject the religion of Jesus is to sin against infinite good- 
ness and mercy. It is treading under foot the Son of God, count- 
ing the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and doing despite to 
the Spirit of grace. Kindness and love are the most subduing of 
all weapons. The hardest and the sternest hearts have felt their 
power, and have softened beneath their influence. Our hearts boil 
w^ith indignation toward the man who would wantonly grieve and 
oppress the parents who gave him being, and with patience and ten- 
derness watched his infant couch, or toward the beggar Vv^ho would 
turn and fire the property of the man who fed and clothed him. 
Not even the brute will forget the caressing hand. What then shall 
we think of the sinner who will slight, grieve and insult that Jesus 
who created and redeemed him ^ What manner of love and ten- 
derness has not characterized the dealings of God toward him? 
What infinite compassion which would lead Him to give up his 
Son.^ Had God given a world for the salvation of the sinner, his 
love w^ould have been inestimable. And had he given the entire 
material universe, how infinite would have been his condescension 
and goodness! But he has given more than all this. For surely 
his own Divine and eternal Son had more of his affection than all 



LECTURE XXVI. — CHAPTER X. 26 — 31. 



297 



the universe besides. But this Son he gave, that whosoever believ- 
eth might not perish. And this Son was not one of many, but his 
" only begotten." And not only did he give his Son, but he actu- 
ally slew him for the sinner. He even called upon the sword of 
justice to awake and smite him. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, 
and to put him to grief, just that the wicked might be saved. 
" Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and 
gave his Son to be a propitiation for us !" 

''O love Divine ! O mercy infinite! 

O love, all height above, all depth below, 

Surpassing far all knowledge, all desire, 

All thought ! The Holy One for sinners dies ! 

The Lord of life for guilty rebels bleeds !" 

Yet, against all this does the unbeliever sin. He tramples under 
foot the priceless gift of Jehovah's love, and accounts the life- 
blood of his only Son as the blood of a malefactor or a slave ! 
And as though God were determined to do all that he can do for 
the sinner, he sends his Spirit — his gracious Spirit to bring the 
truth home to the impenitent heart and win him to the path of duty. 
This sacred influence follows the sinner into all his w^alks and haunts 
of wickedness, and woos and urges him to be reconciled to God. 
But the wretch insults and grieves this good Spirit also. He resists, 
he contemns, he utterly quenches it. Yes, let the heavens hear it 
with astonishment, and the earth blacken with shame that it ever 
nourished such a son ! 

Is it a little sin then to refuse to accept of Jesus Christ and his 
Gospel ? Aye, how shall w^e illustrate the magnitude of a sin which 
cries and smokes unto the heavens ? Is there anything wicked in 
robbery ? Who does not from his heart abhor the felon ^ But this is 
robbery of heaven — of angels — and of Christ ! Is there any guilt 
in treason? Who does not execrate the name of Arnold ? But 
this is treason against the King of heaven, and against a government 
infinitely just, and wise, and good ! Is there anything criminal in 
murder ? Has any language opprobrious terms enough to express 
our just abhorrence of the man who has maliciously and with de- 
liberation stained his hands in his fellow's blood ? Yet, this is the 
premeditated murder of the immortal soul ! Who, who, can ex- 
press or convey an adequate conception of that mountain of guilt 
incurred by the rejecters of Jesus Christ .^^ Yet, this sin — this 



298 



LECTURE XXVI.— CHAPTER X. 26 — 31. 



mighty and inexpressible sin — this sin embodying all the essence of 
infernal guilt and wo, is one for which many before have to answer. 
Kind heaven, have mercy on the miserable culprits! 

Let us look next, my hearers, at the fearful doom which inevit- 
ably awaits those who will not accept of Christ and become pious. 

1. And that a fearful doom does await such, is to be inferred from 
the severe punishment which befel those who acted a similar part 
toward the institutions of Moses. " He that despised Moses' law 
died without mercy under two or three witnesses." It is written 
in Deuteronomy, (xvii. 2 — 6,) " If there be found among you, with- 
in any of thy gates vvliich the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or 
woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy 
God, in tiansgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other 
gods, and worshipped them, either the sun or moon, or any of the 
host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, 
and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and behold it be 
true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrouglit in Is- 
rael : then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which 
has committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or 
that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die. At the 
mouth of two witnesses or three, shall he that is worthy of death 
be put to death." This indeed was a terrible doom; but more ter- 
rible that which awaits the rejecter of the religion of Jesus. 

1st. Because he sins against greater light. It is a principle of 
common justice that punishments should be graduated according to 
the turpitude of the offense. He who rejects Christ acts against 
all the increased light and experience of tlie New Testament, and 
of course incurs greater guilt than the despiser of the Mosaic re- 
ligion, and hence must meet with a sorer punishment. 

2nd. He tramples under foot far ricfier blood. The blood of the 
old covenant was the typical blood of bulls and of goats ; but the 
sanctifying blood of the new, is the blood of the Son of God. 

3d. He sins against a greater personage. Moses was a mere 
man. But Christ was a God. And is a sin directed against the 
prophet equal to that directed against the God of the prophets 
The Savior could easily forgive and overlook the sin " against the 
Son of man." It was not so much to be wondered at that men 
should become offended at and despise his humble humanity. But 
when the sin was directed "against the Holy Ghost" and the re- 
proach was cast upon the Deity, heaven contained no pardon for it. 



LECTURE XXVI. CHAPTER X. 26 31. 



299 



4th. He also sins against the Holy Spirit. This is an influence 
somewhat peculiar to the Gospel. It is one which requires active 
resistance to overcome. 

From these considerations we are bound to conclude that a far 
more fearilil punishment than befel the Jewish sinner awaits the 
despiser or rejecter of the Gospel. 

2. That a fearful doom awaits those who refuse submission to 
the Savior, is also 1o be inferred from the fearfulness of the God 
who is to judge them. " For we know him," says the apostle, 
" that hath said, Vengeance is mine, I will render it. It is a fearful 
thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Fearful, because 
he is a God of infinite power. His word brings worlds into being; 
his frown blots suns and systems from the universe ! There is notli- 
ing to control him, no law out of him to bear upon him. His will 
is law — resistless and immutable la^v — and that to the utmost ex- 
treniity of creation's mighty compass. H^e speaks, and it is done; 
he commands, and it stands fast. His power is infinite, and all 
creatures must bend or be crushed before him. And is there noth- 
ing fearful to be apprehended from falling into the hands of such a 
God! 

x\gain, he is infinite in justice. Sin of the slightest shade must 
meet with punishment at his hands. When archangels rebelled, 
hell resounded with their overthrow. When Adam but tasted of 
the forbidden fruit, the curse smoked after him and filled a world 
v.'ith woes. He cannot but punish sin, and that to the very utmost 
extent of its ill desert. Every attribute of iiis nature — every prin- 
ciple in his government — and all the interests of all his obedient 
creatures conspire to raise the uncompromising cry, The soul 
that sinneth, it shall die ! And with the awful sin upon us of slight- 
ing Christ and refusing his religion, is it not fearful to fall into the 
hands of such a God ! 

Again, he is a God of eternal immutability. From everlasting 
to everlasting he is the same. His sentence once uttered, there is 
no appeal and no reprieve. To meet with wrath at his hands^ is to 
writhe beneath his wrath forever. There is no change — no repent- 
ings with him. From eternity to eternity he is the same omnipo- 
tent, just, and sin-avenging God. Sterner far than fierce Achilles 
in the raging fight, his piercing eye shall burn and his heavy hand 
forever crush the soul that trampled on his only Son. Not tears, 



300 



LECTURE XXVI. CHAPTER X. 26 31. 



nor supplications, uttered even by the slow faint accents of the 
dying breath, can purchase from him one moments respite from the 
tremendous woe which awaits the man that never bows to Jesus. 
It was well said, " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 
living God." 

3. But it is still further to be inferred that a fearful doom awaits 
the despisers of the Gospel, from the existence of a conscience. 
Wherever there is a man there is a conscience. It is the chan2:e- 
less nature of that conscience to reproach and harass the soul for 
every wrong which it perpetrates, until full satisfaction and restitu- 
tion is made. The bloody rites of heathenism prove this ; and 
civilized society abounds with examples of it. I will present two. 

Here is a man whose old and helpless parents are the objects of 
his contempt. He grieves— he insults — he oppresses them. In 
return for the anxious cares and solicitude bestowed upon him in 
his infancy and youth, he neglects their wants and totally abandons 
them to starvation and death. Think you not that that man is des- 
tined to be miserable ^ Go where he will, engage in what he may, 
thoughts of his parents' wants and woes, and remorse for his worse 
than brutish ingratitude will trouble and distress him forever. He 
cannot shake oft' the haunting conviction of his sin. 

So also with the murderer. Soon as he commits the bloody 
deed a thorn enters his heart which will never be extracted. He 
ever sees upon his hands the purple stains. He cannot wash 
them out. He cannot efface them. " A vulture is devouring his 
soul, and it can ask no assistance or sympathy either from heaven 
or earth. The secret which he possesses soon comes to possess 
him ; and like the evil spirits of which we read, it overcomes him, 
and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it beating at his 
heart, rising to his throat, and demanding disclosure. He thinks 
the whsole world sees it in his face, reads it in his eyes, and almost 
hears its workings in the very silence of his thoughts. It has be- 
come his master. It betrays his discretion, it breaks down his 
courage, it conquers his prudence."^ The pale ghost of his victim 
seems ever to be near him. It pursues his every step. It distress- 
es him by day, and disturbs his slumbers by night. Every object 
around him becomes an object of fear and alarm. He flees at the 
rustling of a leaf — shrinks from every sound — and his cheeks grow 

' Webster's Speeches. 



LECTURE XXVI. — CHAPTER X. 26 31. 



301 



pale, and his very soul quakes at the fancied spectres which beset 
his path. He can find no peace, no rest. He ever feels a canker 
at his heart which will gnaw there forever ! 

This conscience — this arch-disturber of the guilty soul is not to 
be destroyed by death. It is part of that nature which cannot die. 
The probability is, that it will grow in vigor and power after we 
once drop our flesh. If so, then what must be the end of the de- 
spiser of religion. How will conscience recoil upon his soul ! 
How will remorse goad and crush his spirit ! Can it be otherwise 
than that a long eternity of lamentation, mourning and woe awaits him 
w^here he will be alone in the midst of multitudes, without a friend, 
wtthout a comfort, without a hope ! It is recorded of Croesus, that in 
the height of his pride and glory he was admonished by a philosopher 
not TO trust to riches, but consider the end of life, and seek for hap- 
piness somewhere else. This admonition he refused to heed, and 
spurned the magnanimous man from whom it came. But afterwards 
when he was defeated in his wars with Cyrus ; v/hen his city was 
taken, himself made prisoner, and laid bound upon the pile in order 
to be burned, he cried out in the anguish of his guilty soul, " So- 
lon! Solon! Solon !"i How then shall it be with the sinner — the 
despiser of Christ, when he comes to feel those cravings and en- 
larged desires which cannot be satisfied, and those fires which can- 
not be quenched ! How bitter will be his remorseless cries — cries 
which no merciful ear will listen to ! There will be the remem- 
brance of opportunities neglected — of mercies slighted — of entrea- 
ties spurned — of a thousand sermons heard and heeded not. The 
very images of the ministers which proclaimed them shall ever flit 
before the distressed imagination. And there will be 

" groans that end not, and sighs 
That always sigh, and tears that ever weep, 
And ever fall, but not in Mercy's sight. 
And sorrow, and repentance, and despair! " 

From the subject as now before us, we are led to reflect upon 
the supreme foolishness and depravity of the human heart. Foolish 
it is, because it chooses a course which must have such a fearful 
termination ; and depraved, because it resists so much goodness. 
We can hardly realize it as at all possible that man could be guilty 
of such an enormous crime as that described in the text. It seems 

* Plutarch's Lives, p 70. 



LECTURE XXVI. CHAPTER X. 26 31. 



too much for humanity to undertake. We would suppose that the 
soul would quail and falter in the attempt to resist so much love, 
and light, and tender entreaty, as the Gospel displays. We are dis- 
posed to consider men influenced more by reason and conscience, 
and interest, than to reject Christ and that glorious religion which 
he came from heaven to establish. But so it is. . Thousands and 
tens of thousands find it in their hearts to do this very thing, and do 
it vvith an energy and deliberation as if they were prosecuting the 
wisest and best of all enterprises. Surely none but such as grovel 
in the lowest, filthiest, blackest depths of moral pollution and infa- 
my could do so. 

And how should the consideration of this subject alarm every one 
of us. Even those of us who have reason to believe that we are 
the cliildrcn of God, have cause to be awakened to greater diligence 
to make our own calling and election sure ; as well as in our ex- 
ertions for the recovery of those with whom we are associated in 
daily life, but who stand exposed to the terrible doom to which our 
attention has been called. There are some, however, who only 
hope that they are christians — who do not feel that they have em- 
braced the Savior u'ith the whole heart — and who have no settled 
or reliable sense of the Divine favor. Such have particular reason 
to be roused. The interests at stake are so great, that no pains 
should be spared to arrive at a confirmed state of christian piety. 
How ardent and incessant should be their exertions to flee the wrath 
to come, and to go on to the full assurance of hope unto the end ! 

But there are man}-, who in their own view, and in the view of 
others, have no claim to the character or hopes of christians. And 
should not such be alarmed by the awful things which have come 
to their view in this discourse ^ Sinners, is there notliing in the 
knell of impenitence — the knell of eternal death — the knell of mil- 
lions forev^er dying, and buried in an eternal grave to rouse your 
guilty fears? " Who of you intends to be reckoned with these 
miserable beings ^ Which of you does not tremble at the bare 
thought of meeting the anger of God — of being destroyed alway — 
of dying da}^ by da}^, forever } Which of you does not shrink with 
horror from the apprehension of sustaining this dreadful character 
of absolute turpitude — of becoming a mere mass of sin — an eternal 
enemy of God and every intelligent being — of being known to oth- 
ers, and knov\^ing yourself to be only guilty, odious, and despicable 



LECTURE XXVI. CHAPTER X. 26 31. 



303 



throug-hout endless ages? Which of you is not overvvhehned with 
amazement at the bare thought of being- united with such compan- 
ions — of living forever in the midst of fiends and fiendlike men, and 
of beings tossed, and convulsed by furious passions, rankling with 
envy, malice and rage, hating truth and righteousness, putrid with 
deceit, forming no plan, pursuing no purpose but to dishonor God 
and ruin each other Yet, you are this day on the high way to 
this very doom. Not only are your faces turned in that direction, 
but you are moving — moving rapidly — moving a step to every pul- 
sation of your hearts, which 

" like muffled drums are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave." 

Your very names are this moment on the list of those whom Sa- 
tan fondly hopes ere long to welcome to the shades of deatii and 
hell. Waiting angels and an insulted Spirit hang trembling over 
you as almost gone beyond all hope. Awake, awake, awake ! then, 
and grasp the help which Israel's God extends, or your sun is for 
ever set in blackness and in blood ! 

' Dwight's Theology, Vol. IV. page 415. 



LECTURE XXVIL 



ENCOURAGEMENTS TO CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 

Heb. X. 32—39. But call to remember ths former days, in wbich, after ye were il- 
luminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, while ye were made a 
gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became com- 
panions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, 
and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have 
in heaven a better and an endurmg substance. Cast not away therefore your con- 
fidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, 
that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet 
a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just 
shall live by faith : but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in 
him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition ; but of them that 
believe to the saving of the soul. 

The early christians, and especially those who were converts 
from Judaism, were greatly persecuted and afflicted. This is a 
matter of legitimate inference from the well known disposition of 
the Jewish rulers. There are also several facts in the Gospel his- 
tory which put this beyond doubt. But persecution and affliction 
were not confined to the first professors of christjanity. The Gos- 
pel of Christ imposes such a rigid check upon human passions, it 
comes into so direct contact with the most cherished feelings and 
desires of the depraved heart, and it is at the same time so aggres- 
sive, and so uncompromising with all error and superstition, that it 
has ever been its fate to meet with the most violent opposition. 
The cross — the dungeon — the rack — the stake — the sword — the 
bloody inquisition — all have been glutted with the victims of its 
persecutors. Its great author came to an ignominious death ; and 
nearly all its first defenders, some of its most holy representatives, 
and many of its magnanimous reformers met with a similar doom. 
And even now, though the blood of christian martyrs has ceased to 
flow, and the fires from consuming saints no longer flash and smoke 
unto the heavens, it is not because the Gospel has ceased to be an 
object of hatred or contempt, or because ungodly men do not burn 
with the same hell-inspired feelings. The followers of Christ are 
still, even in the most civilized and enlightened nations, the subjects 
of affliction and persecution from the wncked. And though not so 



LECTURE XXVII.— CHAPTER X. 32 — 39. 



305 



outbreaking and furious, yet just as real, and much more system- 
atical. And so it will be until the wicked are separated from the 
righteous, and the wheat and the tares no longer grow together. 
The Savior himself has predicted it, and the experience of 1800 
years has so fully developed the nature of man as to lead us to look 
for nothing else. 

In the text the apostle presents various considerations by way of 
encouragement to christians under these afflictive circumstances. I 
will call your attention to them in the order in which they appear 
from the heaven guided pen of Paul himself. 

1. The apostle encourages to perseverance in the faith from the 
consideration of steadfastness under former afflictions. " But call 
to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were illuminat- 
ed, ye endured a great fight of afflictions." It appears that the 
-christianized Jews, to whom he more particularly wrote, had sus- 
tained some very grevious adversities. What was the precise na- 
ture of these trials, is not very clear. That they were fierce and 
powerful is expressed in the words " a great fight of afflictions." 
Their steadfastness was greatly endangered by them, and demanded 
from them a vigorous struggle. 

It is said that they were " made a gazing-stock''^ — exhibited like 
wild beasts and other shows in theatres. They were thus exhibit- 
ed as objects of contempt and reproach — as the professors of a des- 
pised religion — as the followers of a crucified malefactor — and as 
weak and fanatical in having renounced the Jewish worship ; and 
also as the subjects of actual inflictions. They were not only re- 
viled in words, but made to endure positive sufFerings. And though 
all were not treated in. the same manner, yet all shared in the afflic- 
tions by becoming ^' the companions of them that were so used.'' 
They shared in them by sympathy and also by their connection 
with that religion on account of which these persecutions were 
supported. 

They were moreover plundered of their property — deprived of 
their inheritances — turned out of their dwellings — and spoiled of 
all their goods. 

But with all these fiery trials, they remained faithful. They en- 
dured it all, not only without murmuring, but with joy. They 
counted it a privilege and honor to suffer for their Master. The 
apostle now wished them to call these things to remembrance ; to 
21 



306 



LECTURE XXVII.— CHAPTER X. 32 — S9. 



think of the fierce suffering's which they had thus triumphantly 
passed through ; and by this means nerve themselves for what was 
yet to come. Having endured so much, and come out from the 
fight so joyfully, they certainly had great encouragement to remain 
undismayed for the future. 

And so can nearly every christian refer to times of fierce con- 
flict — times of sore trial — times when almost induced to give up 
Christ — times when temptations from without or doubts from with- 
in nearly robbed the soul of all its faith. But having passed through 
them without injury, we are to make the remembrance of the grace 
then bestowed on us the means of support and encouragement for 
all the afflictions and trials that may hereafter assail us. If God 
has given us the victory once, he will give as the victory again. If 
when unexperienced, and measureably estranged from that grace 
which we have at our command in times of need, we came off con- 
querors; shall we falter now having felt and seen that we have 
nothing to fear.^ Having lield out so long and so successfully, shall 
we now with childish timidity throw down our armor and give up 
the fight.? Surely the remembrance of the past should nerve every 
christian heart for the worst which the future may have in store 
for us. 

2. Another encouragement to christian perseverance presented 
in the text, is the consideration of our possessions in heaven. The 
early christians endured all the afflictions and privations of wdiich 
I have just spoken, " knowing in themselves that they had in heav- 
en a better and an enduring substance." It does not mean that they 
had any mysterious ^ internal revelation or knowledge of this ; but 
simply that as christians they knew fi-om the teachings of Christ 
and his apostles, they were the heirs of a preferable inheritance in 
heaven. 

This heavenly inheritance which awaits all true christians, is 
better than any earthly possessions. It is worth more ; it gives 
more comfort; and it makes a man really richer. All the wealth 
of Croesus is nothing to compare with it. It is the source of more 
solid peace; it does more to make man happy under the various 
changes and reverses of time ; and it is altogether more serviceable. 
Earthly property is a blessing if it be properly used, (though a 
great snare to the depraved heart,) but the possessions of heaven 
are beyond comparison more valuable and desirable. Then again 



LECTURE XXVIl. CHAPTER X. 32 — 39. 



307 



it is more lasting. It is " an enduring substance." All earthly 
possessions are uncertain and transient. They soon vanish. Riches 
take to themselves wings and fly away ; and at best we must soon 
depart and leave them all behind us to be possessed by others. But 
in heaven all is permanent and secure. No calamity of war, pes- 
tilence or famine — -no change of times — no commercial embarrass- 
ments — no bankruptcy — no fraudulent defaulters — no thieves — no 
sudden depreciations, can ever touch it or affect its value. No death 
ever comes there to vacate those heavenly mansions. Ail is lasting 
and eternal. 

It was the reflection that such glorious possessions were theirs, 
which helped to strengthen and encourage those christian sufferers. 
The same consideration should encourage iis to faithfulness. Re- 
membering that we have a home in heaven — " an inheritance which 
is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away," what need 
we care for all the destitutions, privations and afflictions which may 
befal us on earth. What if we are not and never shall be rich in 
the things of this world, when we have such imperishable riches 
laid up at the right hand of God. What if we must leave "house, 
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, 
or land, for Christ's sake and the Gospel is it not plain that we 
have an hundred-fold the value of all these desirable things There 
is no earthly treasure which can compare in true value with our 
better and enduring substance ; and why then should we ever give 
up our faith for any of the perishable joys and riches of this world ? 
Just cast your eyes with the poet upon that fair and happy land 
where these glad possessions lie. And, 

" O the transporting, rapt'rous scene, That rises to our sight! 

Sweet fields arrayed in living green, And rivers of delight ! 

There generous fruits that never fail, On trees immortal grow ; 

There rocks and hills, and brooks and vales, With milk and honey flow. 

All o'er those wide extended plains, Shines one eternal day ; 

There God the Son for ever reigns. And scatters night away. 

No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath, Can reach that healthful shore \ 

Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, Are felt and feared no more!" 

And with the conviction that, that bright land is yours, why, why 
relinquish your glorious possession, or grow unwilling to do and 
suffer on the will of God until the end shall come } Certainly there 
is encouragement to perseverance in such a conviction. 

3. The apostle further encouraged the Jewish christians to be 



808 



LECTURE XXVII. CHAPTES X. 32 — 39. 



faithful under their afflictions, hj directing their minds to the in- 
creased reward which should be given them. " Cast not away 
therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of re- 
ward." There is glory unspeakable and eternal in reserve for all 
christians, though some may not be called to pass through any par- 
ticular or severe ordeals of trial and suffering. But for those who 
are thus afflicted and tormented, if faithful, there is something ex- 
tra in reserve. Their steadfastness under these circumstances will 
go to augment the glory and the joy of their heavenly estate. A 
peculiar place is assigned unto those in the apocalypse who suffered 
and " were slain for the ward of God, ar>d for the testimony which 
they held," The great multitude of the ransomed are represented 
as before the throne, but these as U7ider the altar. And in those glo- 
rious days of the New Jerusalem state, to which we look with so 
much hope, w^hilst otZZ that have part in the first resurrection are 
blessed and holy, and are priests of God and of Christ, and in one 
sense reign with him ; yet a very striking and peculiar prominence 
IS given to them that have suffered and died for the witness of Je- 
sus. It is also a matter of common experience, that to be deprived 
for a time of any blessing imparts a keener relish and an increased 
ability for its enjoyment. So those who are most afflicted, if they 
are only faithful to God, will have their happiness proportionately 
increased in the world to come. And so the Savior also says to his 
followers, " Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and perse- 
cute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for 
my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad : for great is your re- 
ward in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets which were 
before you." It is this consideration which the apostle urges upon 
bis brethren as an encouragement to steadfastness amid their diver- 
sified tribulations. 

And since the more suffering by the way, the more blessed the 
rest at the end, may we not with Paul also, "take pleasure in in- 
firmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses 
for Christ's sake Remembering that every unjust reproach, and 
every pain we endure for the sake of our religion but widens the 
measure of our enjoyment and glory in the world to come; why 
should we shrink from the faith, though it lead us against the frown 
of the world — to the block — or to the stake If " our light afflic - 
tion which endureth but for a moment shall work out for us a far 



LECTURE XXVII. — CHAPTER X. 32 — 39. 



309 



more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," may we not then 
say — let it come ? Yes, my brethren, let it come ! By Divine 
grace we will endure it with patience and joy, for great is our re- 
ward in heaven. 

4. x\nother consideration with which the apostle encourages his 
brethren, is the necessity of patience. " For ye have need of pa- 
tience; that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive 
the promise." Their patience under their numerous sufferings, or 
their 'perseverance^ (which is nearly the same thing,) is here put as 
a sort of condition upon which they were to inherit the promise or 
obtain their eternal reward. It is a thing which enters essentially 
into the plan of salvation; and hence was to be cheerfully submit- 
ted to. 

And since it is the will of God that we should suffer, we should 
always bear our afflictions with patience. We should lie calmly in 
Jehovah's hands from day to day, and from year to year. We have 
need of patience to quiet our repining disposition, and to buoy us 
up under suffering. And hence we should never think of relinquish- 
ing our faith because we are persecuted and afflicted on account of 
it. It is the will of God, and when we have done this we shall re- 
ceive the promise. 

5. But one of the most powerful incentives to perseverance is 
found in the speedy coming of Jesus Christ. "For yet a little 
while," says the apostle, " and he that shall come will come, and 
will not tarry." The coming here spoken of is no doubt the second 
coming of the Son of God at that "c^aj/" u^hich I heretofore ex- 
plained. ^ The apostle referred immediately to that germinanty ty- 
pical and providential coming of the Savior for the destruction of 
Jerusalem. . This awful event was soon to occur, and the persecu- 
tions which the early christians sustained from the Jews be thus 
put at an end. But the great fullness of the coming spoken of, is 
the final, real and personal appearance of Jesus Christ. That 
grand comings when they that are in their graves shall hear his 
voice, and the astonished world shall tremble before his judgment 
seat. 

The final advent of Jesus to many and even good people, is a 
subject of great terror and distress. " How can I sustain the sight 
of the rising dead — the flaming skies — the burning world — the de- 
'Lecture XXV., page 290. 



^10 



LECTURE XXVII. CHAPTER X. 32 — 39. 



scending God ! How can I bear the shock of dissolving elements, 
or stand the searching gaze of the omniscient eye !" Such medi- 
tations should indeed alarm and terrify the guilty, but should never 
agitate the souls of believers. The most glorious hopes of our re- 
ligion stand connected with that event. Christ at his second com- 
ing is to appear without a sin-offering for the salvation of them that 
wait for him. " We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be 
like him, for we shall see him as he is." " We look for the Sa- 
vior, the Lord Jesus, who shall change our vile body, that it may 
be fashioned like unto his glorious body." " Henceforth," says 
Paul, '' there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day '; and not to me 
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." He is then 
to come as the Great Deliverer, to receive " the bride" the pur- 
chase of his blood in the mansions which he has gone to prepare. 
He will come to relieve his suffering people from all their trials — 
to rescue tlie persecuted, the oppressed, the down trodden and the 
sorrowful from all their woes. And night, and destruction, and the 
curse, and tears, and death, shall betaken away from them forever. 

" The hope that such a day shall come, Makes e'en the exile's portion sweet." 

W^hat then, my brethren, though our motives in interesting our- 
selves for the good of others be misconstrued, and subject us now 
to the scorn and ridicule of our fellows ^ What, though our reli- 
gion expose us to the deepest ignominy and earthly suffering The 
time of redemption is drawing nigh. The time is coming, when 
" our righteousness shall be brought forth as the light, and our judg- 
ment as the noonday." Though we be crushed to the dust beneath 
the iron heel of the oppressor, God will yet avenge us of our ad- 
versaries. Our prayers, and tears, and sincerity, and piety, will 
yet have their due of praise. " Shall not God avenge his own 
elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with 
them .?" " Yea," saith the Savior, " I tell you that he will avenge 
them speedily." " For yet a little while, and he that shall come 
wnll come, and will not tarry .?" 

Yet a little ichile. The sufferers whom Paul addressed had the 
destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish state just before them. 
They were to live to see the sceptre of their oppressors broken. 
So in the age in which God has permitted us to live, Christ's final 
and personal coming is an event but a little distance in the future. 



LECTURE XXVII. CHAPTER X. 32 — 39. 



311 



The probability is that there are some here present who shall not 
taste death before they shall see the Judge coming in his glory. 
Movements in the political, intellectual and moral worlds indicate 
that this is a very critical and mysterious age. The rapid and won- 
derful advances of the human mind — the new experiments of moral 
power and machinery — the evident decrepitude of the most power- 
ful superstitions — the rapid conversion of the Jews — added to a 
universal and unaccountable impression that we are just on the verge 
of some great crisis, betoken something which God only knows, 
and which time only will reveal. Many too, whose wisdom and 
piety we are bound to respect, and who have made the study of 
prophecy the business of their lives, express it as their deep and 
honest conviction that " the end'''' is near at hand. Yet a little ivhile^ 
and the sighs which now swell the bosoms of believers shall be 
changed into shouts of halleluia. Yet a little while, and the heav- 
ens shall bend with the descending God, "and the kingdom and 
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heav- 
en, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." 
Why then should we despair or disbelieve ? Rather ought we to 
cling the closer to our leader, as the battle grows hotter and our 
afflictions increase. With Christ for our captain we cannot be dis- 
mayed. Soon — soon the conflict shall be over. A few more pains 
and then shall be the last. A few brave strokes more and the vic- 
tory is won for ever. Yet a little while and it shall be said to 
Z\on, Behold thy God ! 

6. The apostle still further encourages his brethren to steadfast- 
ness, with the consideration that their faith and confidence would 
be the means of preserving them when the Lord would come to ex- 
ecute his judgments upon the Jewish nation. " The just, moreover, 
shall live by faith." This was an old and established principle ; 
and in the succeeding chapter the writer adduces passages from 
the histories of the most celebrated Old Testament saints in which 
it is very strikingly illustrated. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, 
Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Rahab, and a host of oth- 
ers of whom the world was not worthy, have tested the correct- 
ness of the principle — " the just shall live by faith." On account 
of this preserving grace which ever attends faith in God, Paul en- 
couraged his brethren to persevere. And it is a very remarkable 
fact, that not one christian life was lost in the sore seige and de- 
struction of Jerusalem. Every Jew perished, or was taken cap- 
tive ; and all apostates from Christ perished with them. But all 
the christians escaped. And so wonderful was their escape, that 
it has been ascribed by some to the special interference of Christ, 
and by others to the warnings and directions of angelic visiters. 

Knowing then that there is a particular preserving grace asso- 
ciated with our faith in God, and that it will work deliverances for 
us where without it we would sink and be ruined, how strong is 



312 



LECTURE XXVII. CHAPTER X. 32 — 39. 



the encouragement to persevere ? If we give up this sheet-anchor, 
we must encounter the driving storm and the angry sea without com- 
pass or star to guide us ; and our inevitable fate will be, to be 
wrecked, or lost, or engulfed in the deep. Hence says the Word, 
" if any man draw back, (hazard such a shipwreck of faith,) my 
soul shall have no pleasure in him." 

7. "But we are not of them," says Paul, " who draw back unto 
perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." He 
here congratulates his brethren upon his own conviction that none 
of them would apostatize, but go on to final and full salvation. This 
is another way of encouraging them to perseverance. He thus en- 
listed their feelings of self-respect and their desires to retain the 
good opinions of their friends on his side and in favor of their stead- 
fastness. Reading this remark, and finding that the apostle had so 
much confidence in them as to believe they would be faithful, they 
would naturally be encouraged to set about the work of maintain- 
ing that course of conduct which was thus expected of them. Chris- 
tianity addresses itself to the tenderest and noblest sensibilities of 
our nature. And wherever there is any moral force and energy 
left in the depraved man, it is right that we should endeavor to en- 
gage it in the effort of christian duty. 

And may I not hope the same of you, my brethren, that you are 
not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe 
to the saving of the soul ? Dare I not indulge the expectation that 
I will meet with you, who have been these several years the ob- 
jects of my constant ministerial solicitude, when 1 come to appear 
in that kingdom which I hope through Christ to obtain ? Breth^ 
ren, I expect to meet you in heaven. Some from under my minis- 
try who were your friends and your relatives have already crossed 
t!ie Jordan. With you, I expect to find them in a better world. 
And whether our stay together be long or short, whether you die 
first or I, whether I close my career among you and lie down with 
you in the same grave-yard, or deposit my mouldering ashes in some 
far distant place; still I shall look to see you " where the wicked 
cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." Do not disap- 
point me ; do not disappoint yourselves, by giving up your religion. 
Whatever be the sulferings you may be called to endure, whatever 
reverses, privations or crosses lie in your path, never — never re- 
nounce the faith. Your past fidelity, your heavenly possessions, 
your augmented reward, the will of God, the speedy coming of 
Christ, the weight of settled principle, and the reasonable and ar^ 
dent expectation of friends, all combine to keep you faithful to your 
Savior. Let these things have their due regard, and be encouraged 
to press forward. If tempted to give up the contest, just think up^ 
on the shame you would thus bring upon yourselves — the glories 
you would lose — the wrath you would be compelled to endure, and 
at once uproot the thought, and rush with renewed energy for the 
prize. 



LECTURE XXVIII, 



FAITH. 



Heb. xi. 1 — 40. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen. For by it ihe elders obtained a good report. Through faith we 
understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which 
are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto 
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he 
was righteous, God testifying of his gifts : and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death ; and was not found 
because God had translated him : for before his translation he had this testimony, 
that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that 
Cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that dili- 
gently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, 
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he 
condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By 
faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which ho should after 
receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in 
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he 
looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 
Through faith also Sara herself received strengtli to conceive seed, and was deliv- 
ered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had 
promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many 
as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore in- 
numerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having 
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of the.w, and embraced them, and confessed 
that they were strangers and pilgrims on tlie earth. For the}' that say such things 
declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of 
that country from whence they came out, they might have liad opportunity to have 
returned. But now they desire a better coimlry, that is, an heavenly : wherefore 
God is not ashamed to be called their God : for be hath prepared for them a city. 
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received 
the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac 
shall thy seed be called : accounting that God loas able to raise him up, even from 
the dead ; from whence also he received him in a figure. By faith Isaac blessed 
Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dy- 
ing, blessed both the sons of Joseph , and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his 
staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the chil- 
dren of Israel ; and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith Moses, 
when he was born, was hid three months of iiis parents, because tliey saw he was 
a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith 
Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be" called the son of Pharaoh's 
daugliter; choosing rather to suffer afflictioir with the people of God, than to en- 
joy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater 
riches than tiie treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the 
reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of tiie king : for he 
endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and 
the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them. 
By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land : which the Egyptians 
assaying to do were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they 
were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with 



22 



314 LECTURE XXVIII. CHAPTER XI. 1 40. 

them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. And what 
shall I more say ? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and 
of Samson, and of Jephthae ; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets; 
who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, 
stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the 
sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed vahant in fight, turned to flight 
the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and 
others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better 
resurrection : and others had trial of crnet mockings and scourgings, yea, moreoverj 
of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were 
tempted, were slain with the sword : they wandered about in sheepskins and goat- 
skins ; being destitute, afflicted, tormented ; (of whom the world was not worthy;) 
they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the pro- 
mise : God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should 
not be made perfect. 

In the openmg of the sixth chapter, as you may remember, the 
apostle passed over the more plain and fundamental doctrines of 
Christianity with a view to consider some points of a higher and 
more difficult character. You may also recollect that faith was one 
of the " first principles" which he then omitted to discuss. But 
having gone through with the investigation of those deep and dif- 
ficult things, and having several times had occasion to speak of 
faith, particularly in the conclusion of the last chapter, he now sets 
himself to define and illustrate this great law of salvation. 

The remarks of Paul on this point are particularly deserving of 
attention. It is the only place in the Bible where a definition of 
this important matter is attempted. It is one of the grandest pas- 
sages in the word of God. The select gems of the Old Testament 
history are here brought together like apples of gold in baskets of 
silver. It is a sacred portrait gallery, where the noblest of ancient 
worthies are pictured to our view just in the act of performing 
their noblest deeds. It is a christian manual, where the whole sub- 
stance of our religion is compressed into a little compass accom- 
panied with the grandest illustrations of its dignity ^nd power, all 
prepared to the believer's hand. The followers of Christ need 
only look into it anywhere, and they will find food and strength, 
and have their souls fired with renewed zeal by the illustrious ex- 
amples here set before them. No one can thoughtfully look upon 
the bust of Socrates and not feel an increased reverence for pure 
philosophy; or upon those of Demosthenes and Cicero without 
feeling an aspiration in his bosom to possess the magic wand of elo- 
quence ; or upon that of Washington without having his heart to 
beat with patriotic feeling and a warm love of genuine liberty. No 



LECTURE XX VIII. CHAPTER XI, 1 40. 



315 



more can the christian look upon these pictures of the faith and 
greatness of the ancient worthies without having his respect for 
religion increased, and his soul animated with the glorious purpose, 
living and dying, to believe in God. 

The plan which has been uniformly pursued in this course of lec- 
tures, forbids, that miiiute examination of the circumstances of the 
various individual examples of the text to which we are so enti- 
cingly invited. I propose therefore in this discourse, merely to pre- 
sent a general view of what is contained in this chapter. In the 
succeeding one I will take up, and develop one of the many 
illustrious characters here presented. 

You have observed from the reading of the text, Xh^i faith is the 
great subject of it. Theologians speak of different kinds of faith. 

1st. There is what is called a historical faith, which is a simple 
assent to the truths of revelation, and may be found in unregener- 
ated men. It receives this name, not because its object is limited 
to the histories of Scripture, for it comprehends also the doctrines; 
but because it is an assent of the same kind which we give to any 
credible history whatever. It is a simple act of the understanding. 
It is a similar operation of mind to that which is produced by a math- 
ematical demonstration. It is the simple concession, that religion 
is true, without any further concern as to whether it is properly 
enibraced and practiced or not. 

2nd. There is also what is called a temporary faith. This con- 
sists in such a persuasion of the truths of religion as is accompanied 
with some impression upon the conscience and affections. Such 
was the faith of the stony ground hearers, in whom the seed hast- 
ily sprung up, but soon withered away. It has no root. It doee 
not proceed from an enlightened and renewed heart. When perse- 
cutions assail it, it dies ; and if through favorable circumstances it 
continues through life, death will utterly extinguish it. 

3d. There is also what is called the faith of miracles. By this 
is meant a supernatural persuasion of the person that God would 
by him, or for him perform some miracle. Christ spoke of this 
when he said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye 
shall say to this mountain. Remove hence to yonder place, and it 
shall remove;" and also when he said to the blind men, "Believe 
ye that I am able to do this.?*" This faith was doubtless confined 
to particular persons and a particular age of the church. 



316 



LECTURE XXVIII. CHAPTER XI. 1 — 40. 



4th. There is also what is called saving or justifying faith ; be- 
cause b}^ it the salvation offered in the Gospel is received and en- 
joyed. It is that faith which is described as relating particularly 
to the Messiah as its object. These however, are nice theological 
distinctions very convenient for some purposes, but to which I will 
pay no further attention. 

Faith is one of the plainest and most common exercises of the 
human mind. It is as familiar to the mind as the hand is to the 
body. Nor are their provinces greatly dissimilar. The hand is 
the physical instrument by which we lay hold of physical objects; 
faith is the intellectual instrument with which we lay hold of ob- 
jects which the mind only can perceive. In its simplest nature, it 
is belief of testimony. Testimony may be presented to the mind in 
various ways, and its objective range takes in the entire universe. 
The five senses are so many sources of testimony to what comes 
under their cognizance. Memory is also a source of testimony. 
To the same, extent then that any one credits his own senses — or 
his memory, he exercises faith. 

But what is the subject of consciousness and observation has 
sometimes been called knowledge^ to distinguish it from what is ap- 
prehended merely upon the declarations of others, though in reality 
it is faith. What is commonly meant by testimony, is the declara- 
tion of a witness. So far then as we place any reliance upon the 
statements of others, so far do we exercise faith. And this is the 
most simple, common, and constant exercise even of the most skep- 
tical minds. It is not possible for us to estimate how large a ma- 
jority of the truths which influence our conduct are derived from 
the testimony of others. 

And all faith, whether human or Divine, is essentially the same. 
It is " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen." It is something which gives unseen things a reality to 
the mind. None of us have seen London, or Paris, or Calcutta ; 
yet we all believe that such places exist, and that faith gives them 
a real existence in our minds — an existence as true as if our own 
eyes had seen them. Everything else being favorable, we would 
have no hesitation to set out to visit either place; so perfect is the 
reality of their existence which faith has given to our minds. Our 
confidence in the numerous testimonies of travellers and geograph- 



LECTtRE XXVin. — CHAPTER XI. 1 — 40, 



317 



€rs respecting the existence of these cities, becomes proof to us— ^ 
a convincing argument that they really do exist. 

The only difference between the christian's faith and the com- 
mon faith of the world, is in the circumstances of the case, and not 
In the nature of f^ith itself The things which a christian believes, 
are things which do not come under human observation, things be- 
yond the range of human vision. Some of them relate to the un- 
known past ; some to unknown worlds; and others to the impene- 
trable future. These things therefore cannot be believed upon hu- 
man testimony. He alone who exists from the beginning, who fills 
immensity with his presence, and to whom all things for eternity to 
come, are known, can testify of the objects of the christian's laith. 
And God has testified. He has given us a revelation, written by 
holy men of old who spake and wrote as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost. To that revelation alone are w^e indebted for those 
truths which are the proper objects of religion. From it we have 
derived the knowledge of that character of God with which we as 
sinners are concerned. His love and forgiving mercy, and his plan 
of saving the guilty, are subjects upon which nature and reason are 
silent. And as to a future state, though the heathen had some ob- 
scure notion of it, derived doubtless from tradition more than rea- 
soning, it is clear that without revelation we should not have the . 
faintest idea of the heaven of Christianity, and should know nothing 
concerning the means by which admission into it is obtained. 

The faith of the Gospel then, is the hearty assent which is given 
to the revelation which God has made. It of course includes the 
concurrence of the heart and the conviction of the understanding. 
In other words, to give you a practical definition, one which you 
can all understand and easily remember. Christian faith^ in its 
whole extent^ is taking God at his word. When he says, " I am the 
Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other Gods before me ;" it is for 
us to look upon and reverence him as the only true and living God. 
When he says of Christ, This is my beloved Son in wdiom I am 
well pleased, hear ye him ;" it is for us to sit at the feet of Jesus 
and receive and observe whatsoever he may teach us. And so in 
regard to his declarations concerning a resurrection from the dead 
— a final judgment — and everlasting rewards and punishments, it is 
for us to receive them as true, and to live as candidates for an im- 4 
mortality of happiness or woe. This is faith. And this is " the 



S18 



LECTURE XXVIII —CHAPTER XI. 1 40. 



substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 
It gives to all the invisible traths of revelation a real existence 
in our minds, and enables us to act in regard to them as if they 
were present and seen with naked eyes. We do not see the 
things of eternity. We do not see God, or heaven, or angels, 
or the redeemed in glory, or the crowns of victory, or the harps 
of praise; but our faith, our taking God at his word^ enables' 
us to act as if we saw them. They thus receive a real sub- 
sistence in our minds. This faith becomes a convincing argument 
to the mind that these things "have a real existence. This confi- 
dence in the Divine declarations becomes evidence to us of the re- 
ality of them, more satisfactory and conclusive than' even the de- 
ductions of our own reason ; and hence the believer feels and acts 
as if all the realities of eternity were spread around him and open 
to his view. 

By way of proof then, that this is a correct definition of faith, as 
v/ell as to give it a more clear and full illustration, I will now pro- 
ceed to notice the examples adduced by the apostle in the text. 

1st. He refers to the work of creation as a thing known to us 
only by faith. By faith we understand that the worlds were fra- 
med by the word of God, so that things w4iich are seen were not 
made of things which do appear." This was purely a thing' of Di- 
vine revelation. There is no profane history, or no tradition 
which goes back to such a remote period, to bring us this informa- 
tion. Nor is the human mind able to reason it out. Philosophers 
have tried it, but could not raise their natural conceptions to that, 
sublime notion of creative power that could produce worlds out 
of nothing. The Peripatetics held that the world was eternal, 
Democritus and his followers that it was formed by the fortuitous 
concourse of atoms, the Epicureans that it was made by chance, 
while those w^ho ascribe to it a beginning in time, knew not by what 
gradations nor in what manner, the universe was- raised into its pre 
sent beauty and order. It was for God alone to give a true account 
of the work of creation. By believing then, that the worlds were 
formed by the word of God out of nothing, we furnish an example 
of faith ; and that faith, is taking God at his word. 

2nd. " By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice 
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, 
God testifying of his gifts." Jehovah had doubtless revealed to 
our first parents the possibility of salvation from the fall by expia- 



LECTURE XXVIII. — CHAPTER XI. 1 — 40. 



319 



tory sacrifices, and directed that sacrifices should be made for that 
purpose as types of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Abel com- 
plied with this direction, and " brought of the firstlings of his flock, 
and of the fat thereof.'' But Cain, having no faith in sacrifices, 
" brought of the fruit of the ground." Here then in Abel was an 
instance of faith, and the amount of it was, that he took God at his 
word. Hence "the Lord had respect unto Abel, and unto his of- 
fering." 

3d. " By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, 
and was not found, because God had translated him." Enoch, ac- 
cording to Jude, was a preacher. It is said that he foretold the 
coming of the Lord to Judgment ; alluding probably to his coming 
in the flood, and in type to his final and personal coming. He no 
doubt fully believed what he preached, and lived accordingly. 
Here then was an example of faith, and that faith was taking God 
at his word. 

4th, "By faith Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen 
as yetj'moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house ; 
by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the 
righteousness which is by faith." The nature oi his faith, you per- 
ceive, was confidence in the Divine declarations— taking God at his 
word. 

5th. " By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a 
place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed 
and he went out, not knowing whither he went." God called out 
Abraham from his native country, his kindred, and his father's 
house, and promised him a land of peace and plenty for an ever- 
lasting pobsession — a seed, in numbers equal to the sands on the sea- 
shore or the stars in multitude^ — and a mission of blessing and glory 
to all the nations of the earth. In obedience to the Divine voice 
the patriarch set out, sojourned as a pilgrim and stranger in the 
land of the Canaanite, and went childless until hoary hairs were 
upon him. Here was faith, faith counted to him for rlghteousnesSj 
and the whole amount of it was taking God at his word. 

6th. " Through faith also Sarah herself," who at first laughed, 
with incredulity in the Divine message, " received strength to con- 
ceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, 
because she judged him faithful who had promised." She believ- 
ed the declaration of her God ; and " therefore sprang there even 



320 



LECTURE XXVni. CHAPTER XI. 1 40. 



of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in 
multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore innumerable." 

7th. And so with Isaac when he " blessed Jacob and Esau con- 
cerning things to come." God had declared unto him that he would 
perform the oath which he sware unto Abraham. Isaac took God 
at his word, and hence pronounced upon his children the blessing 
of future good. And this was his faith. 

8th. And in the same way by faith Jacob, when he was a dy- 
ing, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, bowing up- 
on the top of his staff." 

9th. And with the same confidence in the Divine word, " Jo- 
seph, W'hen he died, made mention of the departing of the children 
of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones." And so 
Moses, and Rahab, and Gedeon, and Barak, and Sampson, and 
Jephtha, and David, and Samuel, and the prophets ; who " sub- 
dued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped 
the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge 
of the svv^ord, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant 
in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." And so " wo- 
men received their dead raised to life again ; and others were tor- 
tured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better 
resurrection." 

You see then that faith, even the great law of salvation in all 
ages, is nothing more nor less than taking God at his word. It is 
not a mere speculation. It comprehends something more than the 
simple assent of the mind to certain propositions, and the mere con- 
viction of the understanding of their truth." It is a practical and 
voluntary thing. Argument may convince us that the Bible is the 
word of God, and that all its statements are true, and its demands 
just ; and yet we may not act upon those declarations, or render 
the obedience which is required. To take God at his word, as 
has been abundantly shown in the examples of the text, is the set- 
ting of the whole heart to proceed upon all the declarations, and to 
do all the commandments which are contained in it. Any one who 
believes in such a way as to act in accordance with it, and who al- 
lows his affections to be governed by his belief, is a true christian, 
and p<i(S.ses3es the genuine faith which saves the soul. He that hath 
this lively working faith in all that God revealed to man, has the 
germ pf eternal life in his heart, which is destined to grow, and 



LECTURE XXVIII. — CHAPTER XI. 1 40, 



321 



expand, and finally triumph over death, and flourish in the unde- 
caying and unwearying vigor and glory of the redeemed. And he 
w^ho has it not, is yet in sins, and gall, and blood ; and the wrath of 
God abideth on him. 

Let me here then, my brethren, present a simple test by which 
you may determine the genuineness of your faith. Have you made 
your calculations according to the word of God, and are you en- 
deavoring sincerely to live in obedience to its commandments.^ 
The Bible declares you are a sinner, and that you must repent in 
order to be saved ; have you then bemoaned and abandoned your 
wickedness } It declares that you must shortly die, and be called 
to judgment, and have your everlasting portion assigned you in ac- 
cordance with your conduct here ; have you then prepared to meet 
your God ? 

' ' — — " If he who has firm faith 

The morrow's sun shall rise, orders alFairg 

Accordingly ; if he, who has firm faith 

That spring and summer, and autumnal days. 

Shall pass away, and winter really come, 

Prepares accordingly ; if he, who sees 

A bolt of death approaching, turns aside 

And lets its pass ; — as surely does the man, 

Who verily believes the word of God, 

Though erring whiles, its general laws obey. 

Turn back from hell, and take the way to heaven." 

And it you have not been led into a course like this, if you have 
not repented of your sins and set your hearts to keep the commands 
of God as far as you can and know, whatever be your reverence 
for the Bible and religion, there is something defective in your faith, 
and you have no right to hope for those joys which are in reserve 
for the righteous. Let me urge it upon you then to make sure 
work of this matter. A mistake here must be fruitlessly lamented 
amid the anguish of quenchless flames. " Examine yourselves 
whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves." 

When on this subject, the question often presents itself, and may 
have arisen in the minds of some who hear me, why was this faith, 
of which we hear so much, made the great and absolute condition 
of salvation ? This is an inquiry which deserves some notice, and 
in answer to which I have a few remarks. 

1st. There are but two conceivable ways in which truth can be 
brought to affect the mind ; viz. by knowledge, and by faith. By 



3^2 LECTURE XXVIlI. — CHAPTER XI. 1—40. 

the former is meant what is the subject of our own observation, hj 
the latter what is received on the testimony of others* I will illus- 
trate w^hat I mean. We all agree that there is such a country as 
China. But the truth of China's existence is not brought in <3ontact 
with our minds by our own perception. We did not come by it by 
walking the streets of its vast metropolis, or by eating the fruits of 
its fields. It is belief — faith in the testimony of others, which leads 
us to act and calculate that China does exist. Again, we agree 
that heat of a certain temperature is very painful— that fire will 
burn, and why ^ Not because others have told us ; it is not faith 
by which this truth is realized. It is a matter of our o^vn experi- 
ence. We all know it, because we have all felt it. In the former 
case the truth was made to impress us by faith, in the latter by 
knowledge. And by one of these two ways w^e realize all truth. 
No matter how really any fact may exist, or however much our in- 
terest for time and eternity may depend upon proper calculations 
in reference to itj the mind will be no more affected by it than. if it 
bad never existed, unless it be conveyed to us through the testimo- 
ny of others, or through some one of the different channels of our 
own personal perception. 

But as was remarked, the dispensation ot religion is mostly spir? 
Itual, and has relation to a great many things which are entirely be- 
yond the limits of our observation. Faith therefore becomes the 
only medium through which they can be conveyed to the soul. It 
is made the condition of salvation then, because no other condition 
from the nature of things w^ould answer. 

2iid. Faith is also more efficient than any other mode of realizing 
truth. It always increases its power to aifect the mind by repeated 
exercise ; while the subjects of personal observation grow less, and 
less in their effect upon the soul every time they are experienced. 

By constant sight, the effect of objects seen grows less ; by con^ 
stant faith, the effect of objects believed in, grows greater. The 
probable reason of this is, that personal observation does not admit 
of the influence of the imagination in impressing the fact ; while 
unseen objects, realized by faith, have the auxiliary aid of the im^ 
agination, not to exaggerate them, but to clothe them with living 
colors, and impress them upon the heart. Whether this be the rea^ 
son or not, the fact is true, that the more frequently we see the less 
we J eel the power of an object; while the more frequently we 



LECTURE XXVIll. CHAPTER XI. 1 40. 



S2B 



dwell upon an object by faith, the more we feel its power." \ This 
then is another substantial reason why faith was made the condi- 
tion of salvation. 

3d. Faith is moreover the great determiner of our fortunes in 
worldly matters, and why shall it not be in spiritual matters This 
proposition does not exactly fall in with the current dogmas of the 
world ; but is it not true.? Does not the belief of.falsehood always 
bring with it disappointment and ruin ? And does not the sincerity 
with which a man embraces error also furnish the exact measure 
of his misfortune.? A little reflection will enable you to reply cor- 
rectly. Or take a case for illustration. Here is a man of exten- 
sive property, respectability, and benevolence. Here is another 
destitute of either, as well as all regard for truth. By misrepresen- 
tation and persuasion he induces the honorable man to embark all 
his fortune with him in certain speculations. He is advised of the 
vallainous character of his colleague, but places full confidence in 
his integrity and the truth of his statements. He discards the truth, 
believes and acts upon the falsehoods, and is consequently involved 
in distress and ruin. It was his faith which determined his fortune. 
Had he believed his friends he would have been saved ; but he be- 
lieved lies and was ruined. 

Take another example, one from history. " When the English 
army under Harold, and the Norman under William the conqueror^ 
were set in array for that fearful conflict which decided the fate of 
the two armies, and the political destinies of Great Britain, Wil- 
liam, perceiving that he could not, by a fair attack, move the solid 
columns of the English ranks, had recourse to a false movement in 
order to gain the victory. He gave orders that one flank of his 
army should feign to be flying from the field in disorder. The 
officers of the English army believed the falsehood, pursued them, 
and were cut off. A second time, a false movement was made in 
another part of the field. The English again believed, pursued, 
and were cut off. -By these movements the fortunes of the day were 
determined. Although the English had the evidences of their own 
senses, yet" they were led to believe a falsehood — they acted in view 
of it ; the consequence was, the destruction of a great part of their 
army, and the establishment of the Norman power in England. 

' Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation, p. 127. 

2 Ibid. 



LECTURE XXVIII. CHAPTER XI. 1 40. 



Had they believed differently, the result must also have been cor- 
respondingly modified. 

Examples might easily be multiplied to show, that our faith, 
even in worldly matters where we are most concerned with things 
of sense, is the great determiner of our fortunes. In fact, all the 
complicated miseries which distress our world, are immediately or 
remotely the products of wrong faith. And if faith determines our 
fortunes in earthly things, why should it not be made the condition 
of eternal good The truth is, that faith is the great condition of 
our happiness in all relations. It must necessarily control the dis- 
positions of the heart — the conscience— the will — the imagination 
— and of course the entire life. Hence it is that this principle lies 
at the foundation of the christian system, He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." 

From what has now been said. We observe that faith is altogeth- 
er a reasonable demand which God makes upon us. The very 
laws of our nature forbid that he should bring down the condition 
of salvation any lower. Upon the same principle that we think it 
right and just to take medicine when sick, it is right and just that 
we believe, in order to be saved. Our physical systems are so con- 
structed, that certain medicinal impressions are necessary in certain 
cases to correct derangement in the machinery of being, and thus 
preserve life. And such is our moral constitution, that certain 
truths which faith alone can reach must be made to diffuse their in- 
fluence througli it, or else it will putrify and go to utter ruin. And 
as in the one case we must use the hand — the lips^ — and the organs 
of the throat to bring medicine to act upon the system ; so in the 
other case we must exercise faith in the provisions which God has 
made, that is, put forth the mental hand and press the truth upon 
the heart, in order to realize in our souls any beneficial effects, 
And as we are not disposed to complain of the natural necessity of 
the thing in the one case, so we have no right to complain of it in 
the other. It is altogether reasonable and right, that we should be^ 
lieve in order to be saved. 

But we are led to observe further by the preceding discussion^ 
that faith viewed in the light of duty, is easy. It is the most simple 
and easy exercise of the human mind. It may indeed go against 
the evil dispositions of the diseased heart. Religion is a thing 
which men in their fallen state do not have much taste for. It will 



LECTURE XXVIII. — CHAPTER XI. 1 40. 



325 



nauseate the soul that is drunk with iniquity. But what I mean is, 
that the exercise of believing is an easy matter. And if any one 
finds it difficult to overcome this disrelish, he must remember that 
God is not the author of it. It is a difficulty which he himself has 
created. But even that, if set about in the proper way, may be 
easily overcome. In the matters of life we often have to do things 
which we dislike ; but when some important interest is at stake 
we can easily put that aside and set ourselves to the work. And 
so in this matter, if we will, we can easily set our hearts to believe 
the word of Gt)d, and to follow wherever it leads. If it were re- 
quired of us to fulfill the whole law of God, then indeed the work 
would be difficult, and the enterprise hopeless. But faith only im- 
plies the sincere setting of the heart to keep the comuiandments. 
And if we come short after we have done what we could, the mo- 
tive and intent will be taken for the execution, and we still shall 
be saved. Nor can there possibly be any great hardship in this 
for any one. 

And then again, when we look at the character of the witness 
whose testimony we are to believe, it would seem that faith would 
follow as a matter of course. If he were a short-sighted, erring, 
and wicked man, there would be room to hesitate. But as it is 
there is none wlmtever. It is the testimony of the omniscient, in- 
fallible, and infinitely holy and merciful God which we are to be- 
lieve and heed. And can he lie ? Can he deceive us? How easy 
is it then to credit his declarations, and to calculate and proceed 
upon them without the least hesitation or doubt ! 

And finally we observe from this discussion, that unbelief is a 
radical and most alarming evil. It conflicts with all the laws of 
things. It jars and disarranges the whole moral machinery of the 
universe. And it comes in direct opposition to God and his will. 
" Without faith," it is said, "it is impossible to please God;" be- 
cause unbelief shuts out all tliose truths from the soul whicli alone 
are sufficient to lead men into the path of Divine acceptance. It 
says to the soul: " there is no God — the world is eternal — man is a 
thing of accident or chance — the Bible is a forgery — prophets and 
apostles and the Holy Ghost are liars — all religion is but supersti- 
tion — all the noble army of saints and martyrs are but dupes — all 
spirits, angels and devils are but goblin fancies — heaven and hell, 
with all the glory of the one, and all the horror of the other, are 



326 



LECTURE XXVIII. CHAPTER XI. 1 — 40. 



but dreams of- the fevered imagination." By listening to this voice, 
the infidel is cut loose from the noblest and happiest influences of 
the universe, and however vast of intellect or great of soul by na- 
ture, he at best is but a wreck— a cast out, melancholy, desolate 
icreck. 

"As some ill-guided bark, well built and tall, 
Which angry tides cast out on desert shore, 
And then retiring, left it there to rot 
And moulder in the winds and rains of heaven ; 
So he, cut from the sympathies of life. 
Is cast ashore from pleasure's boisterous surge, 
. A wandering, weary, worn, and wretched thing ! " 

An influence like this we are all ready to pronounce et?i^, every- 
where— alvvays — and utterly evil. And yet there are thousands in 
the world — many in this community — and there may be some in 
this assembly, who are unsuspectingly cherishing the viper in their 
bosoms, whose venomous sting is to thrill the soul with unending 
anguish. Deluded men, bew^are, beware. Whilst yet you behold 
in it nothing but beauty and innocence — now while its deadly fangs 
lie sealed in icy coldness, dash it from you, and crush it beneath 
your heels. Listen not to the enchanting voice of infidelity, 'tis a 
siren that lures to the vortex of woe. Study well the natural ne- 
cessity of faith to prosperity and happiness, and set yourselves to 
receive and observe the record which God has given. This mo- 
ment, let your penitential vow be formed. The Lord write it in 
heaven. The Lord give grace to follow it out. The Lord snatch 
you as brands from the funeral pyre of souls, rejoice your own 
hearts, and thus spread gladness through the church and through 
the skies ! Amen. 



LECTURE XXIX. 



MOSES AND HIS CHOICE, 

Heb. xi. 24 — 26. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called 
the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people 
of God, t\mn to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of 
Christ greater liclies than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the re- 
compense of the reward. 

It was promised in the last lecture, that I would subsequently 
take up one of the many illustrious characters referred to in this 
chapter for more minute and particular discussion. I have accord- 
ingly selected !hat of Moses as probably the best suited to our pur- 
poses. 

One of the most forcible methods of exhibiting truth, is to con- 
trast it with its opposite. If we wish to discover the various wind- 
ings of a crooked path, we draw a straight line by its side, and 
every deviation is at once plain. Christ himself sometimes fell upon 
this plan to give a more forcible impression to his teaching. In 
proof of this I need only refer you to the parable of the rich man 
and Lazarus. Under what facinating colors did he there paint sin.'* 
"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and 
fine linen and fared sumptuously every day." And in what unen^ 
gaging forms did he picture piety.? " And there was a certain beg- 
gar which w^as laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed 
with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table ; moreover 
the dogs came and licked his sores." But after carrying the con- 
trast forward to another life, how eifectually does he show the great 
preferableness of virtue even with the humblest condition. of life, to 
vice even with the magnificence and luxury of kings! The history 
of Moses, and particularly the circumstance alluded to in the text, 
furnishes opportunity for inculcating the same truth in a similar way. 
I propose 1st. To give a brief account of Moses; 2nd. To show 
the choice he made; and 3d. To consider the wisdom of that 
choice. 



328 



LECTURE XXIX. CHAPTER XT. 24 — 26. 



To those who read their Bibles, the history of Moses is so fami- 
liar that not much need here be said about it. A brief account how- 
ever will not be unacceptable. He was born of Israelitish parents, 
of the tribe of Levi, in the line of Koath, in Egypt. The time of 
his birth was shortly after the publication of the bloody edict of 
Pharoah for the destruction of every new-born male Hebrew child. 
The motive of this decree was a low jealously on the part of the 
Egyptians. It was feared, from the rapid increase of the Hebrew 
slaves, that they would soon outnumber their masters, rebel against 
them, and finally usurp the entire government of the nation. And 
this was but one expedient adopted to prevent the rapid multiplica- 
tion of the Israelites. A very short time after this cruel decree was 
proclaimed, Moses was born. But to avoid it, his parents concealed 
him. It is said that "they were not afraid of the king's command- 
ment." The I'eason of this was " because they saw he was a pro- 
per child." They saw something unusual in his infant features 
which seemed to indicate his future greatness. Probably his coun- 
tenance was lit up with something of that sacred radiance which in 
the wilderness became too bright for men to look upon. And if it 
was not so, a mother's love could easily fancy it ; and his parents 
determined that he should not be slain. 

It was at length found that further concealment was very difficult 
and dangerous. Reports had probably gone abroad that such a 
Hebrew mother had hid her cliild. Threats of official search were 
made. And it was found extremely hazardous and imprudent to at- 
tempt to keep him concealed any longer. But were those fond pa- 
rents now to become the murderers of their child. Having with 
so much anxiety and care kept him " three months," were they 
now" to slay him with their own hands.? The thought was too 
shocking. Divine mercy suggested an expedient. They constrDct- 
ed a little " ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with 
pitch, and put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river's 
brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to 
him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at 
the river ; and her maidens walked along by the river's side ; and 
when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maids to fetch 
it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child ; and behold 
the babe wept. And she had compasion on him, and said. This is 
one of the Hebrew's children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's 



LECTURE XXIX. — CHAPTER XI. 24 — 26. 



329 



daughter, shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, 
that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter 
said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. 
And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her. Take this child away and 
nurse it for me and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman 
took the child and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought 
him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she 
called his name Moses ; saying, Because I drew him out of the 
water," 

We cannot fail to observe here a most mysterious and wise Pro- 
vidence. This is seen, not only in the preservation of his life ; but 
in securing for him a thorough education, a familiar acquaintance 
with the affairs of government, and a dignity which must have com- 
manded respect; while at the same time it so preserved his inter- 
course with his own family and nation, that as he was instructed 
" in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," he acquired at home a know- 
ledge of the redemption of Israel, and of that great Savior who 
was promised to the world. 

Nor can we fail to be struck with the singular, sudden, and 
marked elevation which was thus given to the infant Moses. One 
hour he was the innocent and unfortunate victim of Egyptian jeal- 
ously, with a watery grave before him ; the next he was reputed 
the son of a princess,, and crowned with the titles of Egyptian roy- 
alty. A little while ago he was the poor dying child of a slave; 
and now he is the legitimate heir of the throne of the mightiest 
kingdom in the world. From under the sentence of death — from 
the very mouth of an ignoble grave he is taken to the palace as his 
home, and set down at the right hand of the king himself. 

But subsequently, " when he was come to years," there was 
another change as singular, sudden and marked as this, brought 
about in his circumstances. Steven says, "when he was full forty 
years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of 
Israel." The ease and affluence of the Egyptian court did not 
deaden the sensibilities of his heart to the wants and vroes of others. 
Amid all his princely prospects he never forgot the despised and 
oppressed people from whom he sprung. When he entered the 
palace, a mother's pious influence went with him, and shielded his 
affections from the seductive influences of royalty. Nor could the 
selfish joys of the court satisfy his soul whilst his brethren were 
23 



330 



LECTURE XXIX. — CHAPTER XI. 24 — 2J3. 



eating the bread and drinking the waters of affliction. He felt that 
the throne of Egypt was not the place for him • and he could not 
accept of a heathen crown and sceptre whilst the people of God 
were groaning in their bondage. Confiding in the statements of his 
fathers concerning the Divine promises to Israel, he " refused to be 
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.*' It does not signify that he 
rejected the nominal appellation, but that he refused to be treated 
as her son. He positively declined all the honor and aggrandize- 
ment which was implied in that relation ; " choosing rather to suf- 
fer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of 
sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches 
than the treasures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recom- 
pense of the reward." 

This brings us to consider the choice which Moses made. And 
here it is to be observed that religion is a matter of free and un- 
biased choice. Upon this point there does not seem to be any 
room for doubt, ,1st. Because it is in accordance with our own 
consciousness. Every one has an inward sense that all his actions 
are free. " We feel and know that we act for ourselves ; that we 
are led to determine our own conduct in an infinite variety of cir- 
cumstances ; that we are not impelled contrary to our own choice 
and inclinations."^ 2nd. Because it is altogether agreeable to the 
manner in which the Scriptures are addressed to mankind. The 
whole compass of the Bible, that is more than the simple declara- 
tion of facts, is presented in the form of invitation, exhortation, or 
command. Invitation plainly implies the independent agency of 
the one invited to accept or not accept as he may choose. Exhor- 
tation is an address to the will, and presupposes that the person 
exhorted can yield or refuse at his own discretion. And as to the 
commands of God, every one knows that they can be broken, and 
are broken at the sinner's own pleasure. 3rd. Because it accords 
precisely with examples which we find in the sacred record. In 
the valedictory of Joshua to the people of Israel we find him call- 
ing upon them to choose whom they would serve. It is also said 
of his predecessor that he set before the people blessing and cur- 
sing, life and death for their choice. And so in the text it is said 
of him, that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of 
God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. 4th. There 

' 1 Hall's Works, Vol. IV. p. 176. 



LECTURE XXIX. — CHAPTER XI. 24 26. 



331 



does not seem to be any room for doubt on this point, because of 
the harsh and unfortunate lengths to which the contrary would con- 
duct us. If we conclude that man is not left to act freely and of 
his own choice in everything relating to his sphere, or that he is 
in any shape or form, a creature of necessity, then we have been 
altogether wrong in our theory of moral government, and virtue and 
vice are mere fancies which may as well be applied to a steam-en- 
gine, or any other machinery, as to man. All this is harsh, unnat- 
ural, and absurd, and furnishes a strong testimony to the statement 
which has been made. I hold then, that religion ' is a thing of 
choice — that every one who becomes pious, does so of his own 
election, and feels at the time that a different course might be 
pursued. 

Whenever choice is to be made, there must be two or more ob- 
jects between which to choose. Otherwise there is no choice. 
The objects between which Moses was to decide, were, on the 
one hand, princely wealth, glory, and authority, with a religion of 
idolatry ; and on the other, poverty, shame, and oppression, with 
a hope of reward beyond the grave. Here were two powerful 
competitors for the suiFrage of Moses. Each one possessed strong 
claims, and urged them upon the soul with great and almost irre- 
sistible force. To decide in the favor of either one, violence must 
be done to his feelings toward the other. If he chose the court 
and the throne, he must then forever tear himself away from his 
suffering kindred, and give up the hope of ever participating in the 
rest which was promised to Israel. If he chose to cast in his lot 
with the Hebrews, he must then forego all his enjoyments and pros- 
pects of a worldly nature, and outrage those grateful feelings which 
he owed to his adopted mother for sparing his life and conferring 
upon him his exalted distinction. A mighty struggle must have 
agitated his bosom. Many prayers and tears and sleepless nights 
must it have occasioned. But finally he decided ; and a magnani- 
mous decision it was. He " refused to be called the son of Pha- 
raoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the peo- 
ple of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteem- 
ing the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in 
Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." 
And what adds to the significance and glory of this choice is, that it 
was made deliberately, " in the grand climacteric of life, with all 



332 



LECTURE XXIX.— CHAPTER XI. 24 — 26. 



his faculties perfectly ripened, and his judgment calm, unclouded, 
and dispassionate. Were not this the case, had he been now just 
emerging from youth, with all the sanguine and enthusiastic ardor 
of dawning manhood upon him, it might have been regarded as the 
effect of a rash excitement, as a sudden sally of the buoyant tem- 
perament of his age, and one which he would afterwards have re 
gretted or condemned. Had it occurred later in life, when the 
powers and energies of his mind were on the wane, when the pur- 
suits of ambition and the prospects of pleasure had vanished, it 
might have been stigmatized as the act of an old worn-out courtier, 
whose disgusted satiety of this world's good had driven him to the 
sorry refuge of seeking something better in another. It might ea- 
sily have been characterized as the mean compromise of a man in 
his dotage with an uneasy conscience, for having squandered his 
youthful prime and his manly meridian in the service of the world 
to the neglect of his Maker. But every such imputation is cut off 
by the facts of the case. It was not a step prompted by the pre- 
cipitate ardor of youth, nor one dictated by the timid or sordid 
policy of age. It was a decision formed under circumstances in 
which deep principle^ and not passionate impulse^ must have been 
the ruling motive ; for while in a worldly sense he had nothing to 
hope from a transfer of himself, he had, on the other hand, every- 
thing to lose. We have only to appeal to our own knowledge of 
human nature to learn the difficulty, and consequently the virtue of 
such a sacrifice. When we compare the respective states of the 
Egyptians and the Israelitish people, it would seem to human view 
that the lot of the meanest Egyptian was preferable to that of the 
highest Israelite. Yet Moses voluntarily gave up the one for the 
other ; the honors of the palace for the ignominy of the brick-yard."^ 
It is said of Dioclesian, the forty-second Emperor of Rome, and 
it is said to his praise, that after a prosperous and glorious reign, 
he publicly and voluntarily resigned the throne, and retired into 
obscurity. It is also said to the great elevation of the character of 
our own great Washington, that he refused to accept of a crown 
when it was offered him, preferring the place of a private citizen 
in a republic, to the sceptre of a king where the people are in bon- 
dage. But these condescended only to such a rank in private life 
as was surrounded with ease, affluence, and continued respectabili- 

Bush's Notes on Exodus, Vol. I. p. 29. 



LECTURE XXIX. — CHAPTER XI. 24 — 26. 



333 



ty. Their sacrifices were relieved by many countervailing con- 
siderations. But Moses went down from the dignity of a court to 
the degradation of a slave. Nor was it after he had reaped the 
laurels of glory and satisfied his soul with worldly honor. It was 
just at a time when the most was to be hoped ; just when the trem- 
bling hand of an aged king was about to drop the sceptre of Egypt 
into his arms ; just when the natural course of events was weaving 
for him the glittering diadem. He chose rather to suffer affliction 
with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a 
season. Here was principle — here was faith — here was magna- 
nimity unparalleled in the annals of time, and securing the rewards 
of eternity. 

This conduct, however, like the conduct of all good men, lies 
exposed to the harsh judgment of worldlings. There are such in 
the world as have not faith enough to appreciate eternal realities, 
who will be prepared to pronounce it ultra and imprudent. And 
that we may be prepared to defend it, let us consider, in the third 
place, the wisdom displayed in the choice which Moses made. 

The great object of Moses in all this matter was plainly to de- 
vote himself to the interests of his suffering kinsmen, and to secure 
unto his own soul the blessings which God had promised them. 
There were but two ways conceivable in which there was any 
hope of accomplishing this object. The one was that which he 
did pursue, viz. to break away entirely from his Egyptian connec- 
tions, and cast in his lot with the Israelites ; the other, and this is 
the course which worldly policy would have dictated, was to await 
the death of Pharaoh, first ascend the throne, then liberate his 
brethren by an official decree, give free toleration to the Hebrew 
religion, and in this way accomplish his purpose without sacrifi- 
cing any immunities of wealth or honor incident to his relation to 
the royal family. The wisdom of Moses' choice will then be ade- 
quately exhibited, if we point out the dangers and uncertainties 
which attended this plan, and the glorious success which attended 
the other. 

1st. Then, it is to be remarked in reference to the royal— the of- 
ficial plan — the plan which looked to the throne, that it depended 
upon the supposition that Moses would survive Pharaoh, This was 
by no means a settled point. There is no law in existence whi(^h 
prevents the young from dying before the old. And though the 



334 



LECTURE XXIX. — ©HAPTER XIo 24 26. 



probability in the case was in favor of the plan, it was yet too great 
an uncertainty to serve as the foundation of so grave a calculation. 

2nd. But even admitting that Moses would survive the king, ad- 
mitting that he would succeed to the throne, it would still be a ques- 
tion whether the Egyptians, jealous as they were of the Hebrews, 
would have acknowledged his sovereignty, or have rendered him 
such obedience as was essential to his success. The probability 
here was against him. Did he ascend the throne and turn his at^ 
tention to his suffering kindred — did he undertake any measures to 
better their condition, the same feelings which led to the cruel 
slaughter of the Hebrew children must have been roused again in 
all their fury, dissentions and internal wars have sprung up, and 
Moses most likely have been defeated or assassinated. 

Srd. Then again, the idolatrous religion of Egypt would have 
been in his way. To have refused to respect and encourage it, or 
even to join in its abominable observances, might have forfeited his 
throne. But not to have refused, would have provoked the wrath 
of Jehovah, and his plan have failed= 

4th. And there is also something so seductive in worldly prefer- 
ments. Wealth, pleasure, power, honor ; these are the gilded baits 
which lure to the snares of hell. And had Moses succeeded in 
every other respect, there was yet serious danger to be apprehended 
from these. There was wisdom then, deep, far-reaching wisdom, 
which led him to pursue a different plan. 

Look however at the plan which he did adopt — the consider^ 
ations which recommend it— the success which crowned it. Hav- 
ing fallen in with his suffering brethren, and having all the gracious 
influences of religion like a holy atmosphere around him, of what 
consequence was it to the interests of his soul whether he or Pha- 
raoh first went to the grave — whether Egyptian leaders praised or 
reviled — whether they would admit the Hebrew religion into the 
court or not. It is true that he lost the pleasures and the treasures 
of Egypt. But these things are not without their bitter and their 
sorrow. And the excitement, hilarity, and gratification which they 
do afford, is at best of a low and bestial kind. And this is only 
" for a season." Death to those that live longest comes speedily 
and cuts off all the streams of sensual delight. Like the flower 
that springs up, just opens its leaves, and then withers— like the 
vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanishes away, so is 



LECTURE XXIX. — CHAPTER XI. 24 — 26. 



335 



life. It goes wiih the fleeting breath. The. eyes hardly opened to 
the light are closed again in the tomb. A few years that fly like 
the weaver's shuttle, and all worldly pleasures and treasures can 
avail no more. It is also true that he had to endure reproach. But 
even suffering, with a consciousness of right and the hope of a glo- 
rious deliverance, may be endured with gladness and rejoicing. 
And reproach, when received m an eifort to do good, is in itself a 
treasure. The scars which the old soldier has received in the de- 
fence of his country, he values more than his pension. 

And how glorious were the consequences which resulted from 
his extraordinary choice ! The heavenly Shekinah himself came 
down to honor him. From the fiery bush in the land of Midian he 
received the Divine legation to be the historian, the prophet, the 
law-giver, the leader, and the deliverer of Israel. In the prosecu- 
tion of this great commission, kings, armies, animals, and even ele- 
ments were made subject to his will. When he smote the river it 
was turned to blood. When he commanded Aaron to stretch forth 
his hand over the streams, and the ponds of Egypt, " the frogs 
came up and covered the land." And at the same bidding all the 
loathsome and destructive insect hosts swarmed through all the 
country. Disease, and death, and hail, and darkness, all came at 
his command. When he struck the waters of the sea, they parted 
to their deepest channels. When he prayed, the heaven's rained 
bread, and the winds supplied the camp with fowls. When he 
smote the dusty rock, it parted, and the fresh waters followed them 
in all their meanderings in the desert. And when he died, angels 
instead of men were his attendants, and heavenly songsters chaunt- 
ed his funeral anthem. Nor is there a single instance on record in 
which he ever regretted his conduct in leaving the throne and the 
treasures in Egypt. Not in all the trials which succeeded it — not 
in all the cares incident to his great office — not in all the ingratitude 
and rebellion of his brethren did he ever wish himself again in the 
court of Pharoah, It is plain then from this simple exhibition, that 
the choice of Moses was wise, and secured to him more real honor 
than royalty itself. 

But the honor which he received for his faith, extends beyond 
the boundaries of time. It is said that " he had respect unto the 
recompense of the reward." In this extraordinary movement, he 
had his eyes and hopes directed toward the eternal blessedness of 



336 



LECTURE XXIX. — CHAPTER XI. 24 — 26. 



the redeemed. Nor was he disappointed. Moses has already been 
at least 3,000 years in paradise, associated with the heavenly or- 
ders, and rejoicing with the blest. I make not this declaration with- 
out authority. It is a thing which is conclusively settled in the 
evangelical account of what transpired on the mount of Christ's 
transfiguration. There, where the glowing energies of the Savior's 
Divinity became too brilliant for a veil of flesh any longer to con- 
ceal them, and the adoring inhabitants of heaven began to gather 
around their Creator and God, whom did Peter and John discern 
among that glorious company.? The record says, " And behold, 
there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him." Yes, 
Moses is in glory ! And from the happiness and glory which he 
has already enjoyed in the abode of the saints, who will say that 
his choice was not a wise one ! Think you that he now regrets it.'' 
Can you suppose that he now looks down from his lofty seat and 
feels that he sacrificed too much, or that he has not received an 
ample recompense for all the privation and reproach he endured on 
earth.? May we not reasonably fancy the lofty song which he 
sung on the shore of the Red sea still pealing from his lips as he 
stands upon the mount of God, " I will sing unto the Lord, for he 
hath triumphed gloriously. The Lord is my strength and my song, 
and he is become my salvation. He is my God, and I will honor 
him ; my father's God, and I v/ill exalt him !" In fact there is in- 
timation given in the Scriptures, that the place of Moses among the 
redeemed who have crossed the Jordan, retains something of the 
pre-eminence of his place among the people of God whilst on 
earth. John, in his vision of " them that had gotten the victory," 
declares that " they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and 
the song of the Lamb." He was a prophet on earth, and it would 
seem is a poet in heaven ! 

And with all the honor and glory which have resulted to Moses 
from his choice, both as it respects this world, and his present habi- 
tation ; it is but as a drop of the mighty ocean of what he is yet to 
receive. The joys of the redeemed flow on like a river without 
an ocean. Their happiness endures like a day without a night. 
When sun and moon shall fade and fall, and the most brilliant stars 
languish and expire, they shall still burn and blaze before the throne 
in ineffable and interminable splendor. There are theatres of glory 
prepared for them — heights and depths and lengths and breadths of 



LECTURE XXIX. CHAPTER XI. 24 26. 



337 



exaltation, upon which no thought of man or angel has ever yet en- 
tered. And if we run our imaginations out into eternity, forward, 
and forward in the contemplation of heavenly improvement and 
glory until the soul aches, and the mind falters in the stupendous 
effort; at any point of intellectual and moral advancement in the far 
remote ages of eternity, this text will still be in their lips, " it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be V But be what they may, Moses 
shall be illustrious among them forever and ever. A destiny awaits 
him, which archangels themselves, towering in awful majesty be- 
fore the seat of Divinity, might well envy. In comparison with 
this, what are all " the treasures in Egypt A momentary speck 
upon a little and transient world ! And what are all " the pleasures 
of sin .J"' A sound that just trembles on the sense and is gone for - 
ever ! I then appeal to you, whether it was not wise in Moses to 
act as be did? Was it not a prudent and a glorious choice } I do 
not believe there is a man who will not give me right when I say, 
it was. 

Learn hence, the impious folly of the impenitent. None of us 
in this christian land of liberty are so situated as to be required to 
relinquish a sceptre and the honors of a court, or to condescend to 
the lowly condition of a suffering slave in order to obtain the re- 
compense of the reward. Eternal life is proffered to every one 
upon the easy condition of turning the heart from earth to heaven — 
from sin to God. There is no real happiness and no worldly pre- 
ferments which we may not enjoy in connection with our religion. 
" Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the 
life which now is, and also of that which is to come." The only 
requisition is, that we make our religion the great and predominat- 
ing; influence over our hearts and conduct. And if it was wise in 
Moses to refuse a crown and a kingdom, and to become a slave for 
the sake of religion, how consummately foolish is it for any of us 
to cling to the pitiable pleasures which sin affords, when the rich 
and enduring consolations of Christianity may be so easily obtained.^ 
Why would any one thus spend his strength for naught while im- 
perishable treasures are already furnished to his hand ! The Lord 
help us to imitate the example of Moses. Amen, 



LECTURE XXX. 



THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 

Heb. xii. 1 — 4. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud 
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus 
the author and finisher of our faith ; who for the joy that was set before him en- 
dured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the 
throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners 
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet re- 
sisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

In these words we have an application of what was said in the 
previous chapter. The apostle had just given a most brilliant il- 
lustration of the nature and power of faith, and here he urges upon 
his brethren the same steady confidence in God. To this end he 
likens their situation to that of the athletm of ancient Greece. Nor 
can the student of the New Testament fail to be struck with the 
particular fondness manifested by its writers for drawing compari- 
sons of this sort. The most striking and vigorous passages in the 
Epistles seem to have been suggested to the sacred penmen by the 
heroic exhibitions of these heathen games. Pointing us first to the 
Olympic racers puffing for the prize, or to the athletic warrior 
amid the clash of arms and the tumults of battle rushing on to vic- 
tory, they then urge the injunctions, " So run that ye may obtain" 
< — So fight the good fight of faith, laying hold on eternal life." 
And in the Apocalypse, he who is described as walking amid the 
blazing furniture of the sanctuary., and holding in his hand the seven 
stars, is represented as addressing his spiritual combatants,, " He 
that overcometh, the same shall be clothed with white raiment ; 
and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will 
confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." 

In the text the apostle speaks of the christian life as a. race, 
^' Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of 
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so 
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the face set before us." 
And that it really is a life of contest is everywhere taught in the 
Scriptures. It is frequently called a "wrestle" — a ^' race" — a 



LECTURE XXX. — CHAPTER XII. 1^4. 



339 



"fight." Christians are spoken of as " soldiers;" Christ their lead- 
er is called a " captain and an effectual perseverance in a course 
of piety is denominated a " victory." All these expressions involve 
the idea of contest. I will in the first place, present a few remarks 
concerning the nature of this contest ; and secondly, direct atten- 
tion to some particulars w^hich should encourage and help us in 
this race. 

1st. It is a contest between inclmation and duty. By inclination 
I mean that natural bias to evil-doing — that constitutional tendency 
to run contrary to the precepts of Revelation and right reason, so 
often spoken of under the idea of " natural depravity." That such 
an inclination to sin exists, and that it will lead every man into 
transgression if not counteracted by a Divine influence is capable 
of abundant proof All human experience testifies it. From Ad- 
am till now — from infancy to hoary hairs it is sensibly felt. The 
very first developments of the child exhibit passion, opposition to 
restraint, and love of vice. These grow with its growth, and 
strengthen with its strength, and finally assume the government of 
the entire man. Every one is conscious of a proneness to do evil. 
He feels it in every action — in every thought — and can trace it in 
his whole history. I have no doubt but that you can each refer to 
outgoings of heart after things condemned by all your sensibilities 
of right and virtue, and probably to instances the most marked in 
your lives, in which both reason and conscience were led captive 
by passion and lust. A predisposition to wrong is conceded in all 
systems of moral philosophy. Legislators of all grades have la- 
bored to correct it. And all systems of government, from the first 
rude efforts in patriarchal times down to these glorious days of tri- 
umph for the principles of republican liberty, are only so many ev- 
idences of its existence. The Bible most explicitly and authorita- 
tively asserts it. Before the flood already it was Divinely said 
that " even the imaginations of the thoughts of man's heart were 
evil, only evil, and that continually." The rigid manner in which 
the doctrines of repentance and regeneration are all the time insist- 
ed on, shows the truth of the statement. And all the provisions of 
the Gospel presuppose and recognize the fact, that men are " prone 
to do evil even as the sparks are to fly upward." 

To this bias to evil, all the principles of right and duty stand op- 
posed. In order to be truly happy, reason, experience, and reve? 



340 



LECTURE XXX. CHAPTER XII. 1 4. 



lation teach, that we must deny ourselves" and " crucify the flesh 
with the lusts thereof." Here are two rival powers. The heart 
becomes the seat of contest, with conscience— reason — and reli- 
gion marshaled on the one hand, and lust — passion — and strong in- 
clination to evil on the other. This is one feature of the contest. 

2nd. But it is also a contest between sense and faith. We are 
all disposed to be more influenced by the things which immediate- 
ly surround us, than by those which are more remote. Present as- 
sociations, with what we hear — see — feel — taste — and smell for 
ourselves, are exceedingly prone to absorb the whole attention to 
the exclusion of what is presented to us through the testimony of 
others. Not that sense affects us more powerfully than faith, but 
because it excludes the proper exercise of faith. The present with 
its fleeting gratifications we are generally so taken with, as not to 
extend our calculations to the future and the invisible. Christiani- 
ty, however, seeks to reverse this order of things. It seeks to in- 
fluence men most by objects comparatively remote, and which can- 
not be realized by sense. It seeks by faith to awaken the soul in- 
to action, and thence diminish the power of external and sensible 
things. It tries to draw our thoughts to the contemplation of those 
awful and imposing realities which lie on the other side of death, 
and to hold our visions on them until this world is driven back 
from its prominence in the picture, and dwindled down to its 
proper insignificance. Here again are rival influences. Sense 
says, " here is happiness." Faith says, " touch it not, it will per- 
ish in your grasp." Sense says, " eat, drink, and be merry." Faith 
says, seek no joys in sensual indulgences, deny yourself, and live 
soberly, righteously, &nd godly in this present evil world." Sense 
says, " Soul, take thine ease, thou hast much goods laid up for 
many years." Faith says, " Death is near, watch, for you know 
not what moment you shall be called to the judgment seat," Sense 
says, lay up for yourself riches, fame, and honor, and delight 
yourself to the full." Faith says, set not your affections on things 
on the earth, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven." Here 
is a real competition. And such is another feature of the christian 
contest. 

3rd. It is also a contest between corrupt passion and holy princi^ 
pie. This is very strikingly expressed in the seventh of Romans. 
^^For we know that the law is spiritual-, but I am carnal, sold un- 



LECTURE XXX. — CHAPTER XII, 1 — 4. 



341 



der sin. For that which I do, I allow not : for what I would, that 
I do not ; but what I hate that I do." " I find then a law, that 
when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in 
the law^ of God, after the inward man ; but I see another law in my 
members warring against the law of my mind." This passage de- 
scribes a class of feelings which are not peculiar to any one period 
of christian experience. They exist in greater or less vividness all 
along, from the first impressions which truth makes upon the con- 
science until the soul is released from its present polluted prison. 
It certainly is not the experience of the unawakened sinner which 
is here set forth. Such an one does not " will to do good," nor 
does he " delight in the law of God." The Bible declares, " The 
carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to his law, 
neither indeed can be." It must then be cbristian feeling which 
the apostle is representing. It is feeling experienced in the chris- 
tian race. It commences with the first movement of Divine grace 
on the heart, and continues through the different stages of repent- 
ance, conversion, and sanctification. It is the contest between the 
holy principles begotten in the soul by the word of God, and the 
corrupt passions of fallen humanity. 

4th. And this is a contest exceedingly close and hard. It calls 
for all the preparation, diligence, and vigor which can be employ- 
ed. And even at our best, the event often seems to be doubtful. 
Sometimes the race seems to be on the one side, then on the other. 
In order to win, we must " lay aside every weight, and the sin which 
doth so easily beset us." Like the racers in the games threw aside 
every encumbrance of their clothing, and avoided w^hatever might 
tend to hinder their progress ; so w^e must let go everything in our 
affections — employments — associations w^bich might impede our ef- 
forts or obstruct our course. We must " run with patience the 
.race that is set before us." Such is the nature of the contest, that 
our strongest energies must have free and full play, or we shall fail 
of victory. We must start relieved of any cumbrous impediment, 
run in a straight course and with a vigorous pace, and continue 
running till we get the goal. 

5tb. And w'e must not fail to observe that this contest is most 
momentous in its issues. Infinite and eternal interests are suspend- 
ed on it. Life and death, in the widest and most awful import of 
these terms, are involved in it. It is inevitable that every one of 



S42 



LECTURE XXX. — CHAPTER XII. 1 — 4. 



US must either win or lose. If we manage so as to be governed 
by duty, faith, and principle, whilst inclination, sense and passion 
are kept in due subordination ; a seat among the redeemed shall be 
our reward. But if the contrary, corruption, contempt, and ban- 
ishment from God and from heaven shall be our portion for ever. 
We are hence brought to the second branch of the discourse, in 
which I proposed to direct attention to some particulars which 
should encourage and help us in this race. 

1st. There is abundant reason to be encouraged in the magnifi- 
cent reward which is to crown our victory. In the ancient games, 
a brilliant wreath of shrubs and flowers was exhibited, which the 
successful racer was to bear away in glorious triumph. So there 
is a "prize" set before us. Faith beholds it glittering in the prom- 
ises. It is richer, higher, and far more enduring than that which 
the Olympic hero won, A few wild olive branches, and a few en- 
thusiastic shouts from the assembled multitudes, was the sum of 
what his victory commanded. But the reward of the successful 
christian racer, and all may be successful, is to consist of an im- 
proved place of residence — a glorious elevation of character — su- 
perior nobleness of employments — and pure and eternal enjoyments. 
I will give each of these a brief notice. 

The future residence of the righteous. Paul says, " we know 
that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have 
a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." In another place, that " God hath prepared for (the 
righteous) a city." In the Revelations of John we have this glo- 
rious abode minutely described. Its foundations are "garnished 
with all manner of precious stones." Its dimensions are wonder- 
fully great. Its mighty walls are of jasper ; its twelve gates are 
twelve massive pearls ; its watchmen are angels. The throne of 
God and of the Lamb is in the midst of it. Out of this throne 
gushes the river of life, and on its banks grow the trees of life 
bending with the varied fruits of immortality. There is no temple 
there ; no night overcasts the sky ; no moon shines ; no sun rises. 
The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it, and 
the sun which shines with the splendor of everlasting day. " And 
there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither 
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." There will 
be nothing to deceive, nothing to pollute, nothing to awaken dis- 



LECTURE XXX. — CHAPTER XII. 1 4. 



343 



gust or abhorrence. Every sinner, and every sin will be excluded. 
Rebellion will have spent its force, the iron rod of oppression will 
be broken ; the trumpet will have blown its final blast ; the last 
shout of battle will have expired ; destructions will have come to 
a perpetual end. Tumult, suspense, and fear will be no more. 
There all things will live. Death and sorrow, disease and pain, 
crying and tears w'ill have fled for ever. There will be nothing to 
destroy, nothing to impair, nothing to lament. Everything will 
live ; and not merely live, but grow, and flourish, and bloom with- 
out interruption. Life in a sublime and superior sense — life ver- 
nal and immortal, will impregnate the streams and trees, the leaves 
and fruits, and animate the bodies and minds of the first-born.^ 
Such is the dwelling w^iich awaits us. 

The elevated character of the successful christian racer. On this 
point " it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that 
when he (Christ) shall appear, w^e shall be like him." The body 
shall be raised from corruption to incorruption — from mortal to im- 
mortality — from feebleness to activity and power — from decrepi- 
tude to endless youth — from animal to spiritual — from dishonor to 
beauty and glory. The soul shall be redeemed and cleansed from 
all defilement, removed beyond the influence of temptation, and 
raised above all liability to error. The last remnants of the carnal 
mind shall be taken away — the last traces of sin effaced — the last 
reproach wiped off — and the last finishing touch given to our ran- 
somed and exalted natures. We shall be made kings and priests 
of God and of Christ," the angels shall be our companions, and Je- 
hovah himself be our fond Father for ever and ever. And the in- 
tellect shall be enlightened and envigorated. All the clogs which 
now impede the progress of mind, and all the confinements which 
circumscribe its range and darken its perceptions shall be taken 
away. The film that now dances before the sight of mortal vision, 
and leads the best astray, shall then be dropped from every eye. 
The mind there and then 

"From world to world, at pleasure, roves, on wing 
Of golden ray upborne ; or, at the feet 
Of heaven's most ancient sages, sitting, hears 
New wonders of the wondrous works of God.'' 

Knowledge will seem like intuition, and we shall know even as 
we are known. 

^ See Dwight's Theology, Vol. IV. p. 490. 



344 



LECTURE XXX. CHAPTER XII. 1 4. 



The employments of the redeemed. The heavenly state is not 
one of simple quiescence. The angels whom we are to be like, 
are the most active of the creatures of God. John represents the 
upper world as full of sublime activity. Singing, harping, shout- 
ing, praising ; with creation, providence, judgment, redemption, and 
Divine sovereignty as the subjects of constant contemplation, is the 
view which he gives us of the employments of the redeemed. 
" After this I looked," says he, " and behold, a door was opened in 
heaven. And a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 
And there was a rainbow round about the throne. And round the 
throne were four and twenty seats ; and on the seats I saw four and 
twenty elders sitting, clothed in white, and they had on their heads 
crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and 
thunderings, and voices. And in the midst of the throne and round 
about were four living creatures ; and they rest not day and night, 
saying, Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, 
and is to come. And when those living creatures give glory, and 
honor, and thanks to him that sat on the throne ; the four and twen- 
ty elders fall down before him, and worship him that liveth for ever 
and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art 
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power : for thou 
hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were cre- 
ated. And when (the Lamb) took the (sealed) book, the four liv- 
ing creatures, and the four and twenty elders fell down before the 
Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of 
odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, 
saying. Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals 
thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy 
blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; 
and hast made us unto our God kings and priests. And I beheld, 
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and 
the living creatures, and the elders : and the number of them was 
ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; say- 
ing with a loud voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to re- 
ceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and 
glory, and blessing. And the four living creatures said Amen. 
And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that 
liveth for ever and ever." At another place he says, "After this I 
beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of 



LECTURE XXX. CHAPTER XII. 1 — 4. 



345 



all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues stood before the 
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms 
in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to 
our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Agaia 
he says, " I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, 
Alleluia : salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord 
our God: for true and righteous are his judgments. And again 
they said. Alleluia. And the four and twenty elders and the four 
living creatures fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne, 
saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of tlie throne, say- 
ing. Praise God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him both small 
and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, 
and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thun- 
derings, saying. Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth 

Tlie enjoyments of the ■redeemed. Attev what has just been said, 
very little is required on this point. Heaven is represented as Vail 
of joy. Robes that have been washed and whitened in the blood 
of the Lamb — palms that wave in gloiious victory— harps that are 
strung to endless praises — crowns that glitter with the jewels of re- 
demption—thrones that tower before the seat of Deity — kingdoms 
that stretch through the duration of eternity — and streams of bless- 
edness which overflow every capacity of man's ransomed nature, 
all minister to the enjoyment of the redeemed. Their abode is 
high and glorious: their characters are perfect and holy; their em- 
ployments are dignified and delightful : and as a necessary conse- 
quence, their happiness is complete and eternal. 

And with such a reward in view, ought we not to be encouraged 
to "run with patience the race set before us Christian racers, 
look at the prize, and let your spirits glow with holy ardor for its 
possession. It is a prize which cost a Savior's tears and blood, and 
which eternity itself will never see faded or exhausted. Then 
nerve yourselves and run until it is won. 

2nd. But there is another consideration, one that is prominently 
set forth in the text, which should animate and encourage us in thi*» 
race. The races on Olympus, from which the apostle dravvs the 
figure, were usually attended by great multitudes from all parts of 
Greece. In order to atford all a view of the races, the stadium^ or 
race-course, had on each side and at one extremity an ascent, or 
kind of terrace covered with seats and benches for them to occupy. 
24 



346 



LECTURE XXX. — CHAPTER XII. 1 4. 



The racers were thus surrounded by thousands whose eyes were 
bent upon them with intense interest. So it is assumed that ice are 
compassed about by clouds of countless witnesses, who are the 
most deeply concerned for our final victory. An amphitheatre 
stretching far and high is crowded with spectators of the christian 
race. The text intimates that the spiritual existence after death is 
so nearly related to the present life, that the multitude of ancient 
worthies and martyrs referred to in the previous chapter, and hence 
all the sainted dead, are cognizant of the actions of the living. And 
no matter though it be true that a particular place is assigned to 
departed spirits until the resurrection of the body ; this interposes 
no insuperable difficulty to such an interpretation of the apostle's 
words. The soul has a power of vision which the light of the sun 
cannot enlighten or bedim — which thick darkness does not obstruct 
nor distance intercept. And to whatever place of abode death may 
consign it, whether in the heights or depths, whether in this world 
or one that rolls afar in immensity ; its thoughts cannot but come 
back to the theatre of its probation, and the objects with which it 
was here conversant. And where its thoughts are,, there will be 
vision. All our steps and movements are open to the inspection of 
departed saints. Patriarchs, and prophets, and martyrs, and all our 
pious relatives who have finished their earthly course stand round 
us in profound anxiety for our success. Every vigorous putting 
forth of spiritual energy to obtain the victory sends a thrill of de- 
light through all the shining hosts. And when the believer comes 
to be launched into an unknown world, quick as it is whispered on 
earth, " he is gone," were the veil but lifted, we would hear that 
throng of mighty multitudes convulsed with joyful shoutings, and 
making heaven's wide concave tremble with tremendous song ! 

And is there nothing in all this to rouse our souls to greater ef- 
fort.'* nothing to inflame our zeal ? nothing to warm and animate us 
to the mightiest struggles for the victory ^ Who can entertain the 
thought that multitudes of heavenly eyes are on him, all anxious for 
his success, and not receive an impulse to strike with greater energy 
for the crown " Seeing then that we are compassed about with 
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the 
sin which doth so easily beset us, and run with patience the race 
set before us." 



LECTURE XXX. — CHAPTER XII. 1 4. 



347 



3d. And then again, we are to be encouraged by the glorious ex- 
ample of the Savior himself. We are to look at the noble deeds 
of our great Captain, " who, for the joy that was set before him, 
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right 
hand of the throne of God." We are to " consider him that en- 
dured such contradiction of sinners against himself" And from 
the Divine pattern which he has set before us for imitation, we are 
to recruit our sinking energies and press on through every opposi- 
tion and suffering for the brilliant reward which is in reserve for us. 
Christ when he entered upon the duties of his mediatorial office, 
had glory and honor supreme and eternal set before him as the grand 
reward of his faithfulness. It was in consideration of that reward 
that he for a time resigned his seat upon the throne, assumed the 
infirmities of mortality, endured the maledictions and cruel perse- 
cutions of men, and finally laid down his life on the cross. Here 
was an example of patience and fidelity. But with all the indes- 
cribable intensity of his suffering he still received the reward, and 
is now seated at the right hand of God on high. Whatever then 
is the character or extent of our tribulations, we are to endure them 
as he did the trials and temptations which beset his path. And 
knowing that he went infinitely beyond anything which we can pos- 
sibly be made to suffer, and yet received the crown, we are to be 
encouraged, and "rejoice inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's 
sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, we may be glad 
also with exceeding joy." 



LECTURE XXXI. 



DIVINE CHASTISEMENTS. 

Heb. xii. 5 — 13. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you 
as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint 
when thou art rebuked of him : for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and 
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth 
with you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not 1 But 
if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and 
not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and 
we gave them reverence : shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Fa- 
ther of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened its afier their 
own pleasure ; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: neverthe- 
less afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are 
exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble 
knees ; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned 
out of tiie way ; but let it rather be healed. 

The apostle in his letter to the Romans, declared that his " heart's 
desire and prayer to God for Israel" was, ^' that they might be sa- 
ved." The deep woiking of this feeling is most strikingly exhib- 
ited in the epistle under examination. It is here embodied in ar- 
gument and eloquence unanswerable and overwhelming. His hands 
here stretch out over his national kindred like those of the Savior 
himself when he wept over Jerusalem. For all of them he evinces 
a most affectionate concern. But particularly for those who had 
made some advances in favor of Christianity his heart seems to yearn 
with unutterable anxiety. He foresaw that fierce trials awaited 
them — trials which would greatly jeopard their faith. He there- 
fore exerts himself to the utmost to have them fully prepared for 
the approaching war. 

In the passage before us he continues the strain of exhortation 
ivhich was commenced in the 10th chapter. His design is to pre- 
sent motives to the consideration of his brethren to encourage them 
to fidelity. He had already designated various particulars for this 
purpose. Here he speaks of suftering itself as a token of Divine 
regard, and as a subject of encouragement to perseverance. Ap- 
prehensive that they might misunderstand or overlook the true no- 
tion of christian suffering, he refers them to a familiar passage in 



i 



LECTURE XXXT. CHAPTER XII. 5 — 13. 



349 



Proverbs, and sets himself to show how believers are to look upon 
their tribulations. We will then be led to consider the origin — tJie 
universality — the peculiarity — the manner — and the design of chris- 
tian suffering, 

1. The origin of christian sufferings The text ascribes them to 
God. They all come from his fatherly hand. But not exclusive 
of any desert of suffering on our part. Correctly speaking, all suf- 
fering is the product of sin — the consequence of violated law. Je- 
hovah in his works and in his word is represented as a God of love. 
His infinite benevolence must prevent him from giving existence to. 
such beings as cannot live but to suffer. It must also prevent him 
from inflicting suffering upon any in whom there has been no irreg- 
ularity calling for such infliction as a thing of justice. All his laws 
are declared to be good ; so good that whosoever shall fully obey 
them will be happy. Hence, wherever there is suffering there 
must first have been some violation of law. And so are all the suf- 
ferings of christians to be traced to sin. Sin not only dug the pit, 
kindled the fires, and created the worm of hell ; but all the woes 
that have ever been in our world, or that are now in it have sprung 
from sin. Each tear, each drop of blood that has been shed since 
man was placed on earth, sin has drained. And if we are made to 
endure pain, it is to be traced to some violation that we have com- 
mitted upon the laws of God, or which our parents committed be- 
fore our birth. If we are made to undergo bereavement and death, 
it is all ascribed by the Bible to the transgression of our seminal 
and federal representative in the garden of Eden. If we sufler 
from the persecutions and the faithlessness of our fellow men, it is 
because we stand connected with a social machinery which sin has 
deranged. And if we suffer remorse of conscience, it is because 
we ourselves have sinned against our God. All suffering issues 
from the fount of sin. But, although sin is the instrumental cause 
of the present sufferings of the righteous, there is nevertheless a 
peculiar sense in which they are to be ascribed to God. This will 
be further explained when we come to speak of the peculiarity of 
the christian's sufferings. 

2. The universality of christian suffering. The text declares 
that whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth everi^ 
son whom he receiveth." This is the general rule of the Divine 
administrations. The people of God in all ages have been the sub- 



350 



LECTURE XXXI. CHAPTER XII. 5 13. 



jects of affliction. It is in view of this fact that Paul exclaims in 
one place, " If in this life only, we have hope in Christ, we are of 
^ all men most miserable." It seems too that the most pious and re- 
nowned for holiness have had the greatest share of suffering to en- 
dure. Some of the patriarchs were great sufferers. The proph- 
ets were men of sorrows, and most of them were stoned and slain. 
The apostles all perished by the malice of an ungodly world. Most 
of the glorious reformers died martyrs for the truth as it is in Je- 
sus. And the righteous of all nations and all ages have been the 
children of affliction. Some were tortured, "others had trial of 
cruel mockings and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonment." Some 
" were stoned, sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the 
sword, wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being desti- 
tute, afflicted, tormented ; and wandered in deserts, and in moun- 
tains, and in dens and in caves of the earth." And though we as 
christians may not be called on to endure sufferings of the same or 
similar kind ; we are nevertheless all subject to pains, disease, be- 
reavement, disappointment and death. It is a universal law, that 
no christian is exempted from the chastening of the Lord. 

3. The peculiarity of christian suffering. Every one who has 
given the subject any thought will agree that the sufferings of the 
righteous are to be looked upon in a different light from those of 
the wicked. They have a common source, but they bear different 
relations to the Divine economy. Sinners suffer in a judicial sense. 
They suffer for the satisfaction of violated law. They suffer in 
the endurance of penalty. The righteous it is true suffer the pen- 
alty of their sins so far as it is executed in this life; but they suf- 
fer in accordance with a special arrangement. They suffer a pen- 
alty for which an adequate and accepted satisfaction has been made. 
They may be said to suffer by the special appointment of God. 
Let us endeavor to obtain a clear conception of this idea. The 
Gospel you know, provides a complete redemption from all sin. 
John declares that " the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all 
sin." It is said of the Savior, that he gave himself to redeem us 
from all iniquity." Again it is said, " Christ hath redeemed us 
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" — that " we 
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, 
according to the riches of his grace." You know too, that who- 
soever believes in Christ, and rests on his atonementj is judicially 



LECTURE XXXI. CHAPTER XII. 5 13. 



351 



exempted from the entire penalty of sin. We are ''justified by 
faith," and " there is now no condemnation to them that are in 
Christ Jesus." These are the free, unqualified, and glorious decla- 
rations of the Scriptures. But do we see them realized in fact } 
We have reason to believe that there are many christians in the 
world ; are any of them fully exempted from the penalties of sin 
It was just remarked that all suffering is the product of sin ; and do 
not christians suffer.'* Do they not spend their lives in sorrow like 
other men, and then die as if under the very curse which was first 
pronounced upon transgression ^ Facts declare most positively 
that they do. In order then to preserve the integrity of the Gos- 
pel, we are driven to seek some other explanation of christian suf- 
fering. The truth is that God has deferred to carry the great work 
of human redemption into full effect until an appointed period in the 
future. The time intervening between the present and that period, 
at least so much of it as christians spend on earth, is devoted to the 
work of moral discipline. And although God has been fully satis- 
fied for the sins of believers, he yet continues them under the sor- 
rowful influences of the present course of things, as a special ar- 
rangement for this purpose. He might have carried the whole 
scheme into immediate effect ; but in his wisdom sin itself is first 
made an instrument to help on his mighty purpose. Christians suf- 
fer on account of sin ; but here is the peculiarity, they suffer by 
the direct and particular appointment of God. Sinners indeed suf- 
fer because it is the Divine will and purpose that the wicked shall 
have no peace. But this is a matter of God's ordinary administra- 
tions. The sufferings of the righteous belong to the new and spe- 
cial economy of grace. They enter into the great plan of salva- 
tion as an essential part. The sinner suffers penally ; the christian 
suffers remedially. The one suffers as a debtor to the law ; the 
other as an heir of glory. The one suffers by way of satisfaction 
for unpardoned sins ; the other as a means of promoting the glory 
of both the redeemed and the Redeemer. The one suffers as a 
disowned, neglected, or banished bastard; the other as a beloved 
and acknowledged son. The one suffers at the hand of justice ; 
the other at the hand of love. The one suffers under the law ; the 
other under the Gospel. 

Here then is the reason why christians are not to interpret their 
sufferings as marks of Divine displeasure. Many good people are 



352 LECTURE XXXI. CHAPTER XII. 5 — 13. 

prone to do this. It was so with Job and his " miserable comfort- 
ers." And there seems to be something natural in it. The soul 
that is uninstructed as to the true nature of the case will reason to 
this effect : " The Scriptures teach that whosoever repents of his 
sins and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ secures the favor and 
love of God, and his sins are remembered against him no more. 
From this it is to be concluded, as both the cause of suffering and 
the frown of deity are removed, all suffering is removed with them. 
But I am not exempt from suffering, the body I inhabit is full of 
pains, the circumstances which surround me give me disturbing 
anxiety, and finally I am to pass through the dreary vale of death. 
Certainly then I am not to be numbered with the blest company of 
the redeemed." There appears to be force in this reasoning. The 
apostle no doubt apprehended that it would drive some of his breth- 
ren to despair under the severe afflictions which they were to en- 
dure. But its whole force is done away by the doctrine that these 
sufferings belong to the plan of salvation. God himself has ap- 
pointed them. Though judicially the whole work is completed, he 
yet sees fit in his wisdom to let the natural course of things run on 
for a season — to leave the existing arrangements of Providence un- 
disturbed, as the best way to accomplish his gracious purposes to- 
ward man. Consequently, instead of doubting our sonship, because 
of our suffering, we are to look on the other hand, and expect them 
as the ordinary accompaniments of the Divine favor. We are 
rather to construe the absence of suffering into an indication that we 
are excluded from the arrangements of God for the sanctification 
of believers. "If ye endure chastening," says Paul, "God deal- 
eth with you as w'ith sons; for what son is he whom the father 
chasteneth not But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are 
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." 

4. The manner of christian suffering. God chastises his children 
in a different temper from that with which earthly parents ordinari- 
ly correct children. With these there is often much that is the 
result of hasty emotion — of an irascible temper — perhaps of the 
mere love of power. There is much that is inflicted without due 
reflection, and that produces only pain in the bosom of the parent 
in the recollection. But with God everything is without any inter- 
mingling of passion, or any improper feeling. His administration 
is free from all the defects which attend parental discipline on earth. 



LECTURE XXXI. — CHAPTER XII. 5 13. 



353 



There is nothing capricious or arbitrary in them. His whole deal- 
ings with his children flow from infinite wisdom and benevolence. 
It is not that he delights to produce pain ; not that he enjoys the 
sufferings of his people ; not that he envies them and would rob 
them of their little comforts; not that he needs what they would 
enjoy to increase his own happiness; but simply that he may jn- 
crease the glory of their redemption. Paul says, " we have had 
fathers of our flesh, which corrected us," who " for a few days 
chastened us after their own pleasure : but he for our profit, that 
we might be partakers of his holiness," This brings us to con- 
sider 

5. The design of christian suffering. This is two-fold. 1st. To 
promote the personal holiness of the suff'erer; and 2nd. To aug- 
ment the glory of redemption itself 

The text says that it is " for our profit, that we mighl be par- 
takers of his holiness ;" and that although grievous for the present, 
"nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of right- 
eousness unto them which are exercised thereby." 

Afflictions make us serious and heavenly-minded. It is one of 
their most obvious tendencies to bring men to consideration. They 
lead our minds out upon the object of our existence, and our mys- 
terious destiny. They bring us to contemplate ourselves in every 
aspect, teach us our entire dependence upon a higher power, our 
consequent obligation to God, the unsubstantial nature of terrestrial 
things, and press upon our thoughts all those momentous truths 
througli the influence of which we are to be sanctified. They 
make the heart loosen its grasp on earth and fix it tighter on God 
and heaven. They make us reflect more about another world, and 
in the same proportion increase our diligence in preparing for it. 
They cause us to rest more calmly upon Divine help, to seek and 
expect more from the hand of God, and to feel more anxious about 
the full securement of our immortal interests. Just as the darkness 
of night causes us to notice and contemplate the heavenly wonders 
which are unobserved in sunshine, so afflictions fix our thoughts 
upon the imposing realities of the spiritual world which we are 
prone to overlook amid the light of prosperity. 

Afflictions furnish a happy school of devotion and christian vir- 
tue. David once said, " It was good for me that I was afflicted. 
Before I was afflicted I went astray ; but now have I kept thy 



354 



LECTURE XXXI. — CHAPTER XII. 5 — 13. 



word." Doubtless he expressed the experience of every christian 
sufferer. They curb our selfishness, and teach us submission to the 
Divine will. They restrain the fretful temper which we are so 
disposed to indulge, and teach us patience. They bring down our 
exalted conceptions of ourselves, and teach us humility. They call 
up to our remembrance our various omissions of duty, and dispose 
us to be more faithful to God. Just as the husbandman to improve 
his corn, tears up and loosens the earth about its roots ; so Jeho- 
vah sends afflictions to improve us in the graces of the Spirit. 

Afflictions enable us to appreciate more highly the consolations 
of religion. The orphan that has been tossed by the billows of 
adversity knows more of the value of home, than the child that has 
always dwelt happily under the parental roof The calm of a 
morning sunrise is never hailed with so much gladness by the mari- 
ner as immediately after a night of tempest and danger. The 
mountain peaks of one's native country are never so lovely as when 
they first strike our vision in the return from a long and lonely ex- 
ile. So the Savior is never so desirable as when seen through the 
tears of affliction ; and immortality never produces in the mind 
such thrilling delight as when most oppressed with a sense of the 
nearness of death. 

And then afflictions also capacitate us for a higher state of re- 
ward in the kingdom of glory. " For our light affliction which en- 
dureth but for a moment shall work out for us a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory." ^ 

There is no question, therefore, as to the advantage of suffering 
in the promotion of christian holiness. No truly pious man, when 
he comes to die, will feel that he has had one trial too many, or 
one which was not important in promoting his growth in grace. 
Every christian caii then look back, and see the effect of some 
early trial, so severe that he once thought he could hardly endure 
it, spreading a hallowing influence over his future years, and scat- 
tering its golden fruit all along the pathway of life. Instead of 
regretting that he was required to suffer, he theniooks upon them 
as among the most valuable blessings which th^ Divine law has 
conferred. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience expe- 
rience, and experience hope : and hope maketh not ashamed, 
because the law of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 

'See Lecture XXVII. page 308. 



LECTURE XXXI. CHAPTER XII. 5 13. 



355 



Ghost which is given unto us." To put this happy and sanctifying 
machinery in operation, christian suffering is designed. 

But it contemplates another ohject. It is to augment the glory 
of redemption itself It was entirely within the power of Christ, 
in virtue of his mediatorial accomplishments, to carry his salvation 
at once into full effect. That is, he might have inserted a clause 
in the commission of the troubling angel in favor of believers, 
exempting them from all suffering and death. But had he done so, 
it would have removed the very circumstances which, more than 
anything else, test and prove the power and glory of religion. In 
tribulation, and in death, is where Christianity triumphs most. 
Look at that family under th^ blights of poverty ! What makes 
them thus contented and happy .^^ Look at that little church in 
persecution ! What enables them so magnanimously to refuse to 
bow to the brazen image of arrogant authority What helps them 
thus joyfully to walk amid the flames, and to prefer the furnace, 
white with sevenfold heat, to the cool breezes which blow about 
the throne of their tyrant-oppressor.^ See that humble christian 
in temptation. Why is it that no terrors can daunt him, no allure- 
ments seduce him? See him in sickness. What makes him so 
patient, so submissive, and joyful, as if on the verge of heaven ^ 
See him in bereavement. Whence the joy that mingles with his 
grief.'' Whence those soft and silvery rays that shine upon his 
bleeding heart, and irradiate his darkened hours ? Is it not all 
owing to the power of religion? Certainly, here is an exhibition 
of the glory of Christianity which never could have been made 
without suffering. 

And, " dense as the gloom is which hangs over the mouth of the 
sepulchre, it is the spot, above all others, where the Gospel, if it 
enters, shines and triumphs. In the busy sphere of life and health, 
it encounters an active antagonist: the world confronts it — aims to 
obscure its glories, to deny its claims, to drown its voice, to dis- 
pute its progress, to drive it from the ground it occupies. But 
from the mouth of the grave the world retires : it shrinks from the 
contest there ; it leaves a clear and open space in which the Gospel 
can assert its claims, and unveil its glories without opposition or 
fear. There the infidel and the worldling look anxiously around, 
but the world has left them helpless, and fled. There the christian 



356 



LECTURE XXXI. — CHAPTER XIL 5 13. 



looks around, and lo, the angel of mercy is standing close by his 
side. The Gospel kindles a torch, which not only irradiates the 
valley of the shadow of death, but throws a radiance into the 
world beyond, and reveals it, peopled with the sainted spirits of 
those who have died in Jesus." ^ The christian beholds the light, 
and the blissful scenes it reveals, and then descends with the shout 
of triumph on his lips, " O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, 
where is thy victory." 

Nor is this all. The Divine arrangement, to permit the natural 
course of things to have its way upon believers, as well as the 
unregenerate, opens a door for a most brilliant augmentation of the 
glory of Christianity, in the great day of final reckoning. Though 
christians now die, the time is coming when they that are in their 
graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth. 
And how much more triumphant will be the final victory of life 
over death achieved in the resurrection, than if believers had been 
altogether exempted from dissolution ! As the butterfly bursts the 
tomb, and rises out of the original elements of the caterpillar, and 
sallies forth in the warm sunshine, rejoicing in the superior glories 
of its new being, so shall each believer, at the trumpet-summons 
of his descending Lord, gather to himself the more refined essence 
of his slumbering dust, break away from the grave which can no 
longer retain him, and flourish in the more noble habitudes of 
another life ! " The triumph of life on that day will be final and 
complete, leaving not an atom for which death can contend. It 
will be a triumph of the highest order, consisting not in the mere 
creation of a new being, but in the release and reanimation of what 
has been dragged away from the territories of life: death itself 
will be turned into life; corruption will put on incorruption. The 
triumph will be enhanced by the circumstance that it will be 
achieved on the very spot where death reigned. If the power of 
death be confined to this world, what an opprobrium must earth be 
to all the regions of life, and how naturally may it be pointed at 
by their inhabitants as the mysterious sepulclire of life — the dis- 
honor of the universe. But the morning of the resurrection will 
wipe off" that disgrace, and make the earth their boast and song. 
' There,' they will be able to say, ' there the great antagonist of 
of life, after wasting the earth for thousands of years, and threaten- 

'"The Great Teacher," page 231. 



LECTURE XXXI. — CHAPTER XII. 5 13. 



357 



ing to push the conquest into other worlds, was expelled from the 
universe, as an evil no longer to be borne. And from that very- 
scene where death once reigned, heaven has received its largest 
influx of spiritual and immortal life.' And, to consummate the 
triumph, life on that day will be crowned with immortality. It will 
not be merely restored, but ennobled, exalted to the highest state 
of security and glory it can sustain. From the ruinous heap of 
every christian's grave, a living structure shall arise, built up into 
an imperishable monument of the resurrection and the life. In the 
stead of corruption, it shall be inaccessible to decay : for neither 
can they die any more ; they are equal unto the angels, and are the 
children of God, being the children of the resurrection. In the 
stead of dishonor, it will be raised in glory, radiating a splendor 
which shall eclipse all sublunary glory. In the place of weakness, 
it shall be clothed with the vigor of immortal youth, asking no 
relaxation or repose ; the wings of the soul accompanying and 
aiding it in all its untiring flights. In the place of a natural body, 
it shall be raised a spiritual body : the original grossness of its 
materiality shall be purged away ; it shall be refined and etherial- 
ized into spirit — a robe of light rivaling the invisible essence of the 
soul itself; while each of its senses shall form an inlet to floods of 
enjoyment, and each of its organs be instinct and emulous with zeal 
for the Divine glory." ^ 

My brethren, the glory of the resurrection, beyond a simple 
exemption from death, is too great for human mind to conceive or 
human tongue to express. But I trust enough has been said to 
satisfy you of the benevolence of God in permitting the ordinary 
suflering and death of believers. What then, is the conclusion 
from all this.? Let us see whether it does not furnish the most 
ample reason for submission, patience, and perseverance even under 
the severest trials. 

We own that we are personally deserving of the worst which 
can be made to befal us, and that all our sufferings come upon us 
by the special appointment of God. And will not the Judge of all 
the earth do right.? Will any man impugn His administrations, 
because he sees fit to send afflictions upon him? Will any man 
heap contempt upon Divinity by a proud insensibility or a despair- 

'"The Great Teacher," p3ge 253. 



858 



LECTURE XXXI. — CHAPTER XTI. 5 13. 



ing dejection under the chastisements of his mighty hand ? Think, 
first, that it is a God who sends them, before you become offended 
at your afflictions, and submit. 

Think, too, it is not only yourself that suffers, but every one 
whom God receives. Respect the grand rule from which no one 
is exempted, and be patient. 

And remember too, that you suffer not as a sinner, but as a son, 
returning over a rough and thorny road, to. a peaceful and eternal 
home. Look upon your suffering as an exercise of paternal disci- 
pline, and endure it joyfully. 

You have had earthly fathers, who chastened you through their 
own pleasure, and you gave them- reverence ; submitted to them — 
honored them — loved them. Why not, then, much rather be in 
subjection to the holy. and dispassionate Father of spirits? 

And then, again, it is all for the better. "All things shall work 
together for good to them that love the Lord.'' It is for your 
profit. It is true that " now no chastening seemeth to be joyous, 
but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable 
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." It 
will make you more holy on earth, and it will infinitely augment 
the glory of your final redemption. " Wherefore lift up the hands 
which hang down, and the feeble knees." Though your patience 
has been often exhausted, renew your courage and your efforts. 
The hope of victory does much to strengthen the exhausted 
warrior ; the desire to reach home invigorates the frame of the 
weary traveller. So let your confidence in God, and your hope 
that soon these conflicts will be over, and your soul expanded with 
the triumphs of redemption, help you to endure all that may fall to 
your lot. " Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids 
look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all 
thy ways be established." And may God sustain thee in every 
adv-ersity, and bring thee out of all thy tribulations, to join the 
company of those who " are before the throne of God, and serve 
him, day and night, in his temple." 



LECTURE XXXII. 



THE MEANS AND MOTIVES OF CHRISTIAN PERSEVERANCE. 

Heb. xii. 14 — 29. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man • 
can see the Lord : looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God ; lest 
any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled ; lest 
there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat 
sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inher- 
ited the blessing, he was rejected : for he found no place of repentance, though he 
Bought it carefully with tears. For ye are not come unto the mount that might 
be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and 
tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they 
that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more : (for 
they could not endure that which was commanded, and if so much as a beast 
touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: and so ter- 
rible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and. quake:) but ye are 
come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- 
lem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and 
church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of 
all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the 
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than 
that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him tiiat speaketh. For if they escaped not 
who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn 
away from him that speaketh from heaven : whose voice then shook the earth : but 
now he hath promised, saying, yet once more 1 shake not the earth only, but also 
heaven. And this n'ord, yet once more, signifietli the removing of those things 
that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be 
shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, 
let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly 
fear : for our God is a consuming fire. 

But two general topics of discourse enter into this passage. 
The apostle first gives some directions which are to be observed 
in order to christian perseverance, and secondly enumerates some 
considerations which should operate as motives to christian perse- 
verance. This will then be the proper course to be pursued in our 
exposition. 

1. Christians are to make it a point to '-^follov) peace with all 
men?'' Peace is often used in the Scriptures to denote prosperity — 
airthat is good. Thus, when it is said " Go in peace," "God give 
you peace," it is to be understood in the sense of every kind and 
degree of prosperity and happiness. In the text, the word is used 
in a much more restricted sense. It denotes a state of mutual 
agreement, wherein men forbear from injuring one another ; a state 



360 



LECTURE XXXII. CHAPTER XII. 14 29. 



of freedom from contentions, strifes, litigations, and wars. This 
is certainly a very delightful and desirable state, and one which 
should be pursued for its own sake. But so long as we have to do 
with error and depravity, it is not altogether attainable. "For 
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness.? and what 
communion hath light with darkness.? and what concord hath 
Christ with Belial } or what part hath he that believeth with an 
infidel.?" Nor does the text say that it is altogether attainable. 
Hence it is said, "/oZZoic " it — pursue it; try to have it; go after it 
as rapidly and as far as you can. Peace is here represented as a 
something that is fleeting. It flies like the hare before the hound ; 
like a man in battle before his conquering enemy. But, as a means 
of preserving our fidelity to God, we are to pursue it. And 
although we may not obtain it, we must yet be so set after it, that 
if all had the same forbearing and enduring temper, it might 
readily be had. Pious people will have enemies, let them do as 
they may. But we are to cultivate a kind and forgiving spirit. 
The Savior has enjoined upon us to pray for, forgive, and even 
love, our enemies. And though they may curse us, and despitefully 
use us, we must yet present toward them a peaceful attitude. We 
nfiust imitate him who, " when he was reviled, reviled not again.'V 
And this we are to attend to as a thing that is intimately connected 
with our salvation. Strife, controversy, and personal animosities, 
open wide doors for apostacy. As soon as angry feeling begins to 
steal into a christian's heart, the love of God begins to steal out 
of it. And there are doubtless those now on the highway to per- 
dition who have brought themselves to such a state simply from 
want of conformity to the precept before us. We may make war 
with sin^ but not with men ; we may strive as much as we please 
with error and corruption, but never with our fellow creatures. 
And if we do it, we do it at the peril of our salvation. 

2. Christians are also to make it a point to "follow after holi- 
ness, without which no man shall see tlie Lord." Holiness is here 
put in the same category with peace, and the same word expresses 
our duty in reference to both. Whatever is implied then in regard 
to the one, is also implied in regard to the other. And as perfect 
peace is unattainable under the present arrangement of things, so 
also is perfect holiness unattainable. But we are to pursue the one 
in the same way that we are to pursue the other. We must follow 



LECTURE XXXII. — CHAPTER XII. 14 29. 



361 



holiness as fast and as far as we can. AVe are to aim at perfect 
holiness for the simple reason that an arrow shot at the noonday 
sun, though it may not hit the mark, will fly higher than one shot 
horizontally. To fly high, we must aim high ; and in order to move 
on in the work of perfecting holiness," we must follow and aim 
at holiness. 

You perceive here that this precept is put upon a double ground. 
It is put as a thing important to the preservation of our fidelity to 
God, and it is put as an indispensable requisite to the enjoyment of 
heaven — as a means of Christian perseverance, and as a qualifica- 
tion for spiritual happiness. By not aiming to curb our passions 
and purify our thoughts we will be sure to give Satan a hold upon 
our hearts, and there will be every probability on the side of our 
apostasy. Hence we must make it a point to pursue and struggle 
after holiness to secure final perseverance in the Christian course. 
But we must also follow holiness in order to see the Lord." To 
see God, is to be admitted into his presence, his favor, and his 
enjoyment. But God is holy. The great glory of his character is 
his holiness. How then can he admit unsanctified sinners into his 
presence ? How can he admit them into his intimate favor ^ Nay, 
how could they be happy with him ? We must follow holiness 
then as the great qualification for heaven. It is written, Be ye 
holy, for I the Lord am holy. 

3. Christians are also to maintain a diligent inspection of each 
other, and of their own hearts and conduct. Looking diligently 
lest any man fail of the grace of God." The phrase implies that 
the closest attention is to be given. Four points in particular are 
to be guarded. First. Christians are to be particular to have 
themselves and each other really and truly in possession of the 
saving grace of God. If they have not this, they will prove at best 
but stony-ground hearers, and, when the time of trial comes, will 
disappear from among believers. Consequently we should be con- 
stantly on the look out to become more and more satisfied that we 
are real Christians, and that our brethren around us are. 

2nd. Christians are to be watchful lest any root of bitterness 
springing up trouble them, and thereby many be defiled." Error 
is exceedingly insinuating. As noisome weeds spring up unob- 
served among the cultivated flowers, so error seeks the company 
and influence of truth, and works death and defilement in a way 
25 



S62 



LECTURE XXXII. CHAPTER XII. 14 29. 



unseen. Christians are to guard against it. They are to be on the 
watch for it. They must scan the whole ground with a penetrating 
eye. And wherever it makes its appearance^ if possible they must 
crush and exterminate it, otherwise they must separate themselves 
from it as a dangerous and infectious thing. 

3d. Christians are to guard also "lest there be any fornicator" 
among them. This is to be literally applied. In its whole scope 
it means that we must not tolerate any conduct growing out of a 
mistaken notion of Christian liberty. Antinomianism received its 
foothold in consequence of a want of proper attention to this point 
The Gospel indeed is a religion of freedom, but not a freedom for 
licentiousness. And if we wish to obtain salvation through the 
church, we must be careful not to allow in it a loose morality. 

4th. And we must exercise vigilance too " lest there be any 
profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his 
birth-right. For afterward, when he would have inherited the 
blessing, he was rejected ; for he found no place of repentance, 
though he sought it carefully with tears." The sin and profanity 
of Esau was, that he " despised his birth-right." This birth-right, 
or the rights belonging to him by primogeniture, were of no mean 
consideration. It entitled him to the priesthot)d ; to a double por- 
tion of his father's possessions ; to dominion over his brethren, and 
to a place in the line of the progenitors of the Messiah. These 
were among the most noble, honorable, and spiritual advantages 
which descended upon the sons of the patriarchs. This right 
Esau esteemed so lightly, that he actually bartered it away for a 
single meal. All the high and holy advantages which it would 
have commanded upon him, he reckoned on a par with the pleasure 
of a half hour's gratification of his appetite. The apostle inti- 
mates that such characters are likely to appear in the Christian 
church : persons who have a low and profane idea of the value of 
spiritual things; persons who would barter away their religion 
whenever, by so doing, they could secure some temporal advan- 
tage. Against all such profane conceptions we must carefully 
guard. The Savior has declared religion to be the pearl of great 
price." So we must regard it. And should there be any bearing 
the Christian name who do not esteem it above — far above, even 
the best of worldly good, from among such we are bound to come 
out and be separate. A low estimate of the value of Christianity 



LECTURE XXXI. CHAPTER XII. 14 29. 



363 



will of course produce proportionate laxity in the observance of 
its prescriptions ; the soul will hence become barren, faith weak, 
and when trial comes nothing short of downright apostasy is the 
ultimate consequence. And then, when the time arrives for the 
full fruition of Gospel blessings, when the soul first comes to 
understand its error, and would gladly reverse the fatal bargain, it 
must be let alone for ever ! 

You see then how these several precepts bear upon the matter 
of Christian perseverance. Be careful to heed and practice upon 
them. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which 
no man shall see the Lord : looking diligently lest any man fail of 
the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble 
you, and thereby many be defiled ; lest there be any fornicator, or 
profane person, as Esau." And if you attend to these things, in 
addition to the more plain precepts of Christianity, "ye shall never 
fall ; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly 
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

We come now, in the second place^ to notice more particularly 
the superior inducements Christians have to continue steadfast in 
the faith. " For ye are not come unto the mount that might be 
touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and dark- 
ness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, &c. But ye are 
come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the 
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to 
the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are writ- 
ten in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of 
just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new cove- 
nant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things 
than that of Abel," &c. The apostle wishes to impress the idea that 
there really is something in the new dispensation which is worthy 
of our fidelity. There was much in the old economy to prevent 
apostasy ; but much higher motives are brought to bear to lead the 
Christian to final perseverance. 

The law was given from a mountain which trembled and smoked 
with the signs of wratb. The apostle says that it was burning, 
and black, and tempestuous, and vocal with such an awful voice, 
uttering such terrible words, that " they that heard entreated that 
the word should not be spoken to them any more." So over- 
whelming was the scene, that Moses himself is said to have 



364 LECTURE XXXII. — CHAPTER XII. 14 — 29. 



exclaimed, " I exceedingly fear and quake." The history says, 
"Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord 
descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the 
smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly,'' 
These indeed were terrible signs, and doubtless had their influence 
upon the Jewish mind. But the Gospel was given from Mount 
Zion. A mount upon which God appeared, not in the terrors of 
wrath, but with the wooing exhibitions of mercy. It is in view of 
the attractive and engaging manner in which God was there mani- 
fested that the prophet sung by the waters of Babylon, "If I forget 
thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do 
not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; 
if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy," Yet all these 
superior attractions the Gospel has. There is something about it 
much better fitted to affect and win the heart than the law, and 
hence it calls more loudly upon its professors to preserve their 
allegiance. 

The legal services were performed in the earthly and typical 
Jerusalem, in which God dwelt only by symbolic representation. 
But the great services of the new covenant are performed in " tbe 
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Christ, who is 
our great high priest, " is not entered into the holy places made 
with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven 
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." It is there, 
too, where that throne of grace has been established to which we 
may come by a new and living way and obtain mercy, and find 
grace to help in every time of need. The Jews had the shadow, 
we have the reality. How much greater, then, is the inducement 
for us to remain steadfast ! 

The ministry of angels under the old economy was one of its 
great recommendations. But it was limited and partial. It was 
granted only to particular persons, and only at particular times. 
But under the new dispensation, we have the angelic ministr}' 
employed in its utmost latitude,^ There is here an " innumerable 
company" — countless myriads, engaged. "The chariots of the 
Lord are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels." And yet 
these are " all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that 
shall be heirs of salvation." If we have really been born of God, 

' For the nature of the angelic ministry, see Lecture III., page 34. 



LECTURE XXXII. CHAPTER XII. 14 — 29. 



365 



we are now surrounded by, and associated with uncounted multi- 
tudes of pure and happy spirits, whose hearts glow in sympathy 
with ours. Why then should we give up our religion ! 

The old dispensation was a limited and exclusive thing all 
around. It was designed only for the benefit of one nation. And 
the very elements of exclusiveness were in it. It was in reality 
the Jewish religion which held the Jews together as a sepa- 
rate people. But we have come to a dispensation much more 
grand and noble. We have come " to the general assembly.'''' A 
dispensation which comprehends Jews and Greeks, Barbarians, 
Scythians, bond and free. The Gospel church is composed of all 
who believe in Christ, of every nation, and kindred, and tongue, 
and people. The voices of its preachers are sounding far and 
wide, and piercing farther and farther, and shall continue until the 
" Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a 
witness unto all nations." And certainly an institution with such a 
noble comprehensiveness, is more worthy of our support and con- 
tinued friendship, than one with a spirit contracted as that of the 
Mosaic religion. 

Under the old dispensation, there was also distinction made in 
favor of the first-born. They were entitled to privileges — author- 
ity, emolument, and honor, of which the other children of the 
family could not partake. But the Christian church is " the church 
of the first born" — a church in which the entire membership is 
entitled to peculiar and distinguishing blessings ; a church in which 
we are all the sons of God, (if we are members indeed and in 
truth,) have equal rights and privileges, and are equally entitled to 
that promised inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and 
that fadeth not away." 

It was the rule, under the old dispensation, for each family to 
prepare a genealogical chart, to be deposited in the archives of 
the nation. It was from these records that the citizenship of each 
Jew was to be proven. Under the Gospel economy, the names of 
believers " are written in heaven." Their citizenship is established 
from the register of life. Paul says " our conversation (citizen- 
ship) is in heaven." The Savior, in his Revelations through John, 
speaks of the names of saints as being recorded in the upper court, 
and promises, He that overcometh the same shall be clothed with 
white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of 



366 



LECTURE XXXII. CHAPTER XII. 14 — 29. 



life." And if to the Jew it was a motive to fidelity to the Mosaic 
institutions that his name was on record as a son of Abraham, much 
more should it be a motive for Christians to persevere that their 
names are on record in heaven as the children of the living God. 

Under the old dispensation, the mercy seat, shadowed by the 
cloud which symbolized the Divine presence, was approachable 
only for the high priest, and for him but once a year, and that with 
great fear and trembling. The ordinary Jews were not suffered 
to come farther than the outer court, and death awaited him who 
would attempt to pry into the mysteries of the holy of holies. But 
under the new covenant, the very humblest may come, come freely 
and confidently, to the real spiritual throne of the sovereign God, 
there make known his wants, and there supplicate the Divine 
blessing without the consultation of any earthly intercessor. We 
are come "to God, the Judge of all." Every man, through the 
gracious provisions of the Gospel, has liberty to enter into the 
holiest by the blood of Jesus. Every genuine Christian has 
entered the very presence chamber of Jehovah; to Him he has 
continual access; and from Him he daily receives all his spiritual 
supplies. 

The old dispensation was also incompetent to perfect those who 
lived under it. The apostle declared in the conclusion of the pre- 
vious chapter, that God had " provided some better thing for us, 
that they without us should not be made perfect." And though 
commentators have been very much perplexed with this passage, 
yet it certainly teaches that there was some sort of imperfection 
in the Old Testament saints. It may have been some sort of moral 
or organic imperfection, or an imperfection in the sense that they 
did not live to see realized the fulfilment of certain important pro- 
mises ; but it was still some imperfection from which the Christian 
church is free. We have come in the Gospel church " to the 
spirits of just men made perfect." There is an evident and import- 
ant difference here pointed out in favor of those who live under 
the new covenant. It is not to be understood that Christians are 
absolutely perfect. This can only be said of God himself But 
there is a relative perfection such as no Jew possessed. Christians 
are not only more closely united to Christ, but they are more 
closely united to each other. There is a chain of spiritual sympa- 
thy that links them together as different members of the same body. 



LECTURE XXXII. — CHAPTER XII. 14 — 29. 



367 



The Jewish church had a union, but it was not a spiritual, living, 
perfect union. It was a union like that of the different bones of 
one of those bodies in EzekiePs vision before the breath came into 
it. It was a physical and dead union. There was no warm and 
uniform pulsation. There was no living sympathy. But Christians 
are so united as to form one complete spiritual whole. And by 
this unseen and close contact of Christian spirit with Christian 
spirit, a purer spiritual atmosphere is preserved, and a higher state 
of spiritual perfection is induced. Here then is another reason 
why we should cling to Christianity. 

" Moses, as the servant of God, and Mediator of the old cove- 
nant, was of great consequence in the Levitical economy. By his 
laws and maxims everything was directed and tried ; and to him the 
whole Hebrew people came for both their civil and religious ordi- 
nances; but Christians come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new 
covenant : he not only stands immediately between God and man, 
but reconciles and connects both. From him we receive the 
Divine law, by his maxims our conversation is to be ruled, and he 
gives both the light and life by which we walk : these things Moses 
could not do; and for such spirituality and excellence, the old 
covenant made no provision : it was therefore a high privilege to 
be able to say, ' Ye are come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new 
covenant-"^ 

" The blood of sprinkling" under the old dispensation was also 
inefficacious. There was nothing in it to atone for human guilt 
It made no reconciliation with God.^ But we are come to " the 
blood of sprinkling, that speaketli better things than that of Abel." 
The blood of Abel cried only for vengeance upon the head of him 
by whose hand it was shed. This speaks nothing but mercy. 

" Jesus' blood, through earth and skies, 
Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries!" 

Through it we have redemption from our sins, and a title to the 
joys of everlasting life. There is a worth and efficacy in it infin- 
itely above the rivers that were shed on Jewish altars, and for this 
we should cling to it perpetually. 

He who declared the law was a man, and spake from earth. 
Moses was a member of the human race as one of us. None, 
however, escaped who refused to hear him. The Gospel was 

' Dr. Clarke in Uc. ^ See Lecture XXE., page 241. 



368 LECTURE XXXII. CHAPTER XII. 14 — 29. 

declared by one greater than Moses — the Lord from heaven. It 
was God himself, manifest in the flesh, that declared unto the world 
the great truths of Christianity. And if they escaped not who 
refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, 
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. 

And when the law was delivered the earth alone was shaken. 
The prophetic use of the term earth usually denoted the temporal 
authority — the civil polity. When the law was given, the whole 
political government of the Jews was shaken, and absorbed by the 
ecclesiastical constitution. Gradually, however, after the corona- 
tion of Saul, a sort of district civil polity was brought into force. 
But at the introduction of the new dispensation, according to the 
prophecy of Haggai, both the heavens and the earth were shaken 
and removed ; both the civil and ecclesiastical institutions of the 
Jews were taken away. It was established with still more awful 
signs than those which accompanied the delivery of the law. And 
if there was anything in the manner in which the old dispensation 
was brought into force to preserve from apostasy, certainly the 
mighty revolutions in the church and in the state which accompa- 
nied the proclamation of the Gospel should have some influence to 
keep us steadfast in the observance of its ordinances. 

Finally, the old dispensation was intended merely as a temporary 
and introductory concern. Prophecies, uttered in the time of its 
greatest glory, plainly told this. Even in the one quoted in the 
text, the apostle says, " this word, yet once more, (i. e., this allu- 
sion to some fearful and unprecedented commotion,) signifieth the 
removing of those things that are shaken." They were only 
intended to last till the desire of nations should come, and then 
were to pass away. The introduction of the Gospel was to shake 
and remove everything that could be shaken, or that was not per- 
manent, and whatever it did not shake remains settled and eternal. 
We then receive in the new covenant a kingdom which cannot be 
moved. This is that kingdom which shall stand forever. It shall 
stand forever in its spiritual form in the hearts of believers, and 
when Christ shall come again, it shall assume a visible form, and 
the saints shall reign with him forever and ever. 

I have now given you a brief view of the various allusions of 
this brilliant passage. And if you have exercised yourselves to 
understand what has been presented, you have certainly beheld 



LECTURE XXXIII, CHAPTER XIII. 1 3. 



369 



Strong reasons for faithful perseverance in the Christian course. 
Why, indeed, with such facts before him, should any man ever 
think of renouncing Christianity ? If Judaism sinks so low in 
comparison with it — that wonderful economy which was once the 
object of universal admiration — what else can compete with it? 
Will Mahomedanism ? Who would be so foolish as to give up the 
cross for the crescent — the Bible for the Koran? the Christian 
ministry for the bloody sword — or the holy and spiritual heaven 
for a sensual paradise ? Will Paganism ? Heaven forbid that any 
should ever think of again immersing the world in that dark stream 
of abomination and wo. Will Infidelity ? Is its cold and melan- 
choly moonlight to be preferred to the warm and enlivening illu- 
minations of the sun of righteousness ? Will the world ? " What 
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his 
own soul ?" Nay, is there anything in the heavens above, or in 
the earth beneath, which can fill the place of the Gospel of Christ? 
Nothing. Your own hearts respond, Nothing. How strong is our 
encouragement, then, to hold fast the grace whereby we may serve 
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear ? It was said under 
the old dispensation, that God vs^as "a consuming fire" to the dis- 
obedient and the faithless. Be careful, then, lest that come upon 
you which was spoken by the prophets. If he that despised 
Moses' law died without mercy, of how much sorer punishment 
shall he be thought worthy who shall deny the faith in opposition 
to the additional light and motives of the Gospel of Jesus? 
Brethren, " hold fast the beginning of your confidence steadfast 
unto the end." All our interests are safe in the hands of Jesus; 
and in due season we shall reap if we faint not. 



LECTURE XXXIII. 



CHRISTIAN VIRTUES. 

Heb. 13, i.-iii. Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers : 
for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in 
bonds, as bound w^ith them ; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves 
also in the body. 

We now enter upon the closing chapter of our epistle. And 
like the concluding chapters of nearly all Paul's writings, it is 
made up almost entirely of exhortations to the performance of 
various Christian duties. Three distinct things are presented for 
our consideration in the text: 1st. Brotherly love; 2nd. Hospi- 
tality; 3d. Christian sympathy. I will proceed, then, to make 
such remarks upon each of these particulars as I may think import- 
ant and edifying. 

" Let brotherly love continue." 

Man was originally created to love. Love was designed to be 
the master affection of his soul — his motive and rule of action. It 
is presented in the Scriptures as the sum and fulfilment of the 
entire law of God. It is the excellence of all things — the perfec- 
tion of all beings — the glory of all unsmitten worlds. All beings 
rise or sink in the scale of excellence and happiness in exact pro- 
portion to their love. 

Love varies in its phases and degrees as it is directed to differ- 
ent objects. The sinner is not loved as the saint, nor the creature 
as God. Love, when directed tovs^ard the Deity, to be right must 
be supreme. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, 
with all our soul, with all our mind. When directed toward men 
generally, without reference to character, it is called charity — that 
disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their 
fellow- men, and to do them good. But when it is directed to 
Christians — members of the household of faith, it partakes more 
of the nature of a domestic feeling. It is an affection distinct from, 
and in general more tenacious and tender than ordinary friendship. 



LECTURE XXXIII. — CHAPTER XIII. I — 3. 



371 



It gives rise to a more special benevolence, and one distinguished 
from the common beneficence which we owe to all men. Brotherly 
love is an affection which is not to be accounted for on the ordinary- 
principles of affection and friendship among men. Genuine Chris- 
tians may be loved by us, and still that love be something entirely 
different from that brotherly love which is the subject of exhorta- 
tion in the text. We may love them because they are our children, 
our parents, or our companions in life, and their Christian charac- 
ter be left utterly out of the account. We may also love them 
because of some moral virtues which are so useful and attractive 
in themselves as to be the natural objects of partiality, and still not 
have the brotherly affection spoken of in the text. And we may 
even love them on account of certain qualities for which they are 
indebted to their religion, and yet this attachment fall far short of 
brotherly love. " If (says an eminent divine and eloquent preacher) 
we find ourselves overpowered, as it were, and captivated by the 
display of Christian virtue, we are not hence entitled immediately 
to draw a favorable conclusion respecting our state, without looking 
deeper, and inquiring how we stand affected towards the principle 
whence these virtues emanated. It is the ground on which our 
attachment to Christians is based which is to determine the fact of 
our being possessed of brotherly love or not. Brotherly love is 
the love of the brethren, as brethren — the love of Christians, for 
the sake of their Christianity. There is something in real Chris- 
tians which distinguishes them from all other classes of men." 

1. They sustain a peculiar relation to the Deity. He is their 
" covenant God and Father through Jesus Christ." They are a 
peculiar treasure to him above all the nations of the earth. They 
are his possession, his inheritance, his people, for he hath pur- 
chased them by his blood. He says to them, " I will be a Father 
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters." They have 
received the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry Abba, Father. 
There is a peculiar nearness and communion between God and his 
people. 

2. Christians have also a peculiar attachment to God, and zeal 
for his glory. Having been redeemed by his Son, and adopted 
into his family as children and heirs, they look upon him as " the 
chief among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely." They 

^ Hall's Works, vol. 3, p. 182. 



372 



LECTURE XXXIIT.— CHAPTER XIII. 1 — 3. 



venerate and love him in a way that the world does not. And 
being possessed of these holy feelings, they make it their great 
business to promote his interests, to maintain his honor, and to pro- 
pagate, as far as possible, the same sentiments of legal obedience 
by which they themselves are actuated. For them no sacrifice is 
too great, no labor is too arduous, and no suffering is too severe ; 
they cheerfully submit to it all, so that their God is glorified. 

3. True Christians are also distinguished by peculiar traits of 
resemblance to God and their Redeemer. They not only adore 
the Divine nature, but are in one sense and to some degree par- 
takers of it. They not only " behold in a glass the glory of the 
Lord, but are changed into the same image from glory to glory." 
When the Spii^it regenerated them, it left the impress of the pater- 
nal image on their hearts. Through the grace of God they obtain 
a rectitude of character widely inferior in degree but the same in 
kind as that which adorns the character of God. They walk in 
the light as he is in the light, and in some good degree walk and 
do as Christ also walked and did. 

Brotfierly love, then, is a love which is founded entirely upon 
these distinguishing traits. It is excited only by these particulars. 
To love a Christian as such, is to love him on account of his high 
and peculiar relation to God, for his love and zeal for God, and his 
resemblance to God. 

Hence it is easily discoverable how "love to the brethren" is 
an evidence, " that we have passed from death unto life." If we 
have a real attachment for men on account of their intimate rela- 
tion to God and Christ, it shows that we respect and honor God 
and Christ. As "the carnal mind is enmity against God," it shows 
that, that enmity has been subdued. Just as we feel favorably 
towards the domestics of a family on account of their relation to 
their master is an evidence of affection to the master himself, so 
our love for Christians because they are the children of God is an 
evidence that we esteem and love God himself. And if we respect 
and love men for their love and zeal for God, it shows that we also 
love the cause of God. Just as subjects prove their loyal and 
affectionate disposition towards their prince by abetting his in 
opposition to the disaffected party, so we prove that we are recon- 
ciled to God, love him, and desire his glory by our adherence to 
those whose great business it is to plead his cause against a wicked 



LECTURE XXXIII. — CHAPTER XIII. 1 — 3. 



873 



world, and to' promote the interests of his kingdom. And if we 
esteem and love men because they resemble God in holiness and 
goodness, it shows that we love holiness and goodness, and have a 
real Christian attachment to those great moral properties in which 
the beauty of the Divine character consists. We have here, then, 
a safe and easy test of Christian character. " Hereby we know 
that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the 
brethren." And if a man say, I love God, and hateth his 
brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he 
hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen.?"' "By 
this," says the Lord, " shall all men know that ye are my disciples, 
if ye have love one to another." 

Genuine brotherly love shows itself in various ways. It will 
lead to prayer for the brethren ; it will dispose us to bear one 
another's burdens by assisting and relieving each other ; it will 
make us forbearing and forgiving ; it will urge us to mutual labors 
for the final perseverance and salvation of each other ; and it will 
beget a tender solicitude for each others welfare in all things. It 
prompts us to defend our brethren when defamed, to admonish 
them when in fault, to deal tenderly with them when differences 
and controversies exist, to attempts to lessen grounds of dissension 
and widen those of agreement, to put the best construction upon 
doubtful conduct, and to rejoice in the least opening for peace. 

Nor does brotherly love confine itself to the brethren of its own 
individual denomination. It extends to the whole brotherhood of 
believers parcelled out into the numerous Christian societies and 
congregations throughout the world. " Brotherly love is not the 
giving up our conscientious convictions — this is cowardice ; nor is 
it the denying their real importance — this is latitudinarianism ; nor 
is it the mixing of all opinions together — this is in doctrine skepti- 
cism, and in discipline confusion. No: Love adheres firmly to its 
own fixed principles, sustained by faith and a good conscience, and 
yields not the least in what it views as essential truth, and yet 
regards with candor opposite errors, especially if they are not fun- 
damental, and loves the persons of those who hold them, if they 
are, so far as they bear the image of Christ. Love abstains from 
controversy, when duty will allow; spares an adversary where it 
is possible ; conducts its arguments with fairness and temper; and, 
if it be possible, stifles the rising irritation at once, and returns to 



374 



LECTURE XXXIII. CHAPTER XIII. 1 3. 



all the offices and occupations of peace."^ And though we may 
conscientiously differ in many points from other Christian societies, 
yet, if we are Christians, w^e are bound to love and respect them, 
so far as they exhibit the distinguishing traits of Christian character. 

And how strong are the motives we have for the cultivation of 
brotherly love ! 1st. Christ has commanded it. In the night in 
which he was betrayed he said to his disciples, " Little children, a 
new^ commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as 
I have loved you, that ye also love one another." If then we 
would obey our Savior, we must exercise brotherly love. 2nd, 
Christ has set us an example of love, and if we would be like him, 
we must also cultivate the feeling of love. " Beloved, (says John,) 
let us love one another : for love is of God." " In this was mani- 
fested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only- 
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and 
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God 
so loved us, we ought also to love one another." 3d. And then it 
is a great blessing in itself. Of old it w^as sung, " Behold how 
good, and how^ pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in^unity ! 
It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon 
the beard, even Aaron's beard : that went down to the skirts of his 
garments, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended 
upon the mountains of Zion !" It prevents a thousand evils, and 
secures to the soul unqualified delights 

" Love is the grace that lives and sirjgs, 
When faith and hope shall cease. 
'Tis this shall strike our joyful strings 
In the sweet realms of bliss.'' 

Need I exhort you, then, to cultivate brotherly love .^ Oh how 
much better it would be if we would only love one another. How 
much niofe of heaven might we have on earth ! Brethren, do love 
one another. As you wish to do as Christ commanded his follow- 
ers — as you desire to do as he did — as it is your high aspiration to 
be happy — love one another. If any have offended against you, 
forgive them. While your Savior forgives you, so long and so 
often do you forgive them. Do you not have to ask God to forgive 

^ Wilson's Lectures on Collossians, p. 28. 



LfiCTtiRE XXXIIL—CH AFTER Xlll. 1—3. 



S15 



you every day? So then do you forgive those that trespass against 
you. For " if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will 
your Father forgive your trespasses." Heed, then, the exhorta- 
tion of the apostle, and " let brotherly love continue." 

" Be not forgetful to entertain strangers ; for thereby some have 
entertained angels unawares." 

This exhortation was of particular importance in the early times 
of Christianity. Not only were houses of entertainment very 
scarce, but on account of the persecutions waged against the fol- 
lowers of Christ, multitudes were driven to and fro in the earth, 
and rendered entirely dependent upon the charities of their brethren 
for all the necessaries and comforts of life. It was important, 
therefore, that the early Christians should be incited to receive, 
lodge, and entertain these wanderers. " Let it not be imagined, 
however, that this is a duty confined to any one period, or called 
forth only by the extraordinary circumstances of the church during 
the first ages — a common expedient, this, for diluting the peculiar 
morality of the Gospel, or blunting the force and application of its 
most authoritative precepts. There is here an obligation laid on 
Christians of all times as indelible as the record which contains 
it."^ It is a duty inseparably connected with that charity of feeling 
and conduct which enters essentially into the Christian character ; 
and it is as binding upon us as upon any others. It is true that the 
circumstances of some will not admit of a liberal hospitality. 
There are some so poor, that it is not to be expected that their 
doors should be thrown open for the entertainment of strangers. 
But the temper from which this species of charity proceeds, that 
is, a humane, generous, and benevolent temper, may be and must 
be cultivated by all who lay claim to the Christian name. And 
even the humble cottage of the peasant may often exhibit noble 
specimens of hospitality. Every man who has a house to sleep in 
may be benevolent to strangers. 

When I speak of hospitality, I mean something different from 
that conviviality which opens one's house to festive parties made 
up of acquaintances from the immediate neighborhood " — something 
different from " that expenditure on the enjoyments of the social 
board which now forms nearly all that is known under the name of 
hospitable." I mean kindness to strangers in the proper sense of 

^ Chalmer's Lectures on Romans, p. 460. 



376 



LECTURE XXXIII. — CHAPTER XIII. 1 — 3. 



the word. Kindness and humanity to such as have no claims upon 
us by virtue of intimate acquaintance or relationship. 

The great motive which the apostle presents for the cultivation 
of this Christian virtue is, that " thereby some have entertained 
angels unawares." Abraham and Lot thus took in strangers to 
share in their hospitality ; and it so turned out that these guests 
were ministers from God sent to them on errands of love. And it 
may so occur with us, that " in entertaining strangers we may be 
honored with the presence of those whose society will be to us an 
honor and a blessing. It is not well for us to miss the opportunity 
of the presence, the conversation, and the prayers of the good. 
The influence of such guests in a family is worth more than it costs 
to entertain them. If there is danger that we may sometimes 
receive those that are of an opposite character, yet it is not wise 
on account of such possible danger, to lose the opportunity of 
entertaining those whose presence would be a blessing. Many a 
parent owes the conversion of a child to the influence of a pious 
stranger in his family ; and the hope that this may occur, or that 
our own souls may be blessed, should make us ready, at all proper 
times, to welcome the feet of the stranger to our doors. Many a 
man, if he had been accosted as Abraham was at the door of his 
tent by strangers, would have turned them rudely away ; many a 
one in the situation of Lot would have sent the unknown guests 
rudely from his door: but who can estimate what would have been 
the results of such a course on the destiny of those good men and 
their families .^"^ 

Make it a point, then, never to turn a stranger from your house 
when it is possible for you to entertain him. You know the fate 
of the rich man who left poor Lazarus to perish at his gate. You 
know, too, what the Judge will say to those on his left hand, in the 
last day, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels : . . for I was a stranger, and 
ye took me not in : . . . Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of 
the least' of these, ye did it not to me." Imitate the example of 
the patriarchs to whom reference was made, and like the primitive 
Christians, be not forgetful to entertain strangers." 

" Repiember them that are in bonds, as bound with them ; and 
them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." 

* Barnes' Notes in loc. 



LECTURE XXXIII. — CHAPTER XIII. 1 — 3. 



377 



Since the fall, the world has been filled with objects of sympa- 
thy. With it came bondage and incalculable wo. There are 
various kinds of bondage which distress the children of men. 

There is a bondage of ignorance. Thousands and millions of 
our fellow-creatures are at this moment groping their way through 
life without a knowledge of the one living and true God, who are 
conscious of sins, but know nothing of the plan of redemption 
through Christ, who are travelling to the judgment seat without 
one clear impression of the unending existence beyond the grave. 
They live without light, and they die without hope. 

There is also a bondage of sin. All who have not been made 
free by faith in the Son of God are suffering under the weight of 
its heavy chains. They feel it driving them on from sin to sin, or 
whether they feel it or not, it is daily sinking them deeper and 
deeper in condemnation and ruin. Its shackles are so dreiadful, that 
every struggle of the soul to throw them olF only makes them gall 
and oppress the more. This is a bondage, not only of body, but it 
grasps and holds every faculty of the mind and every emotion of 
the heart. Multitudes in the freest lands are groaning under it, 
and these groans are but the brief, faint preludes of what is to 
come upon them in the end. 

There is also a civil bondage — a bondage effected by the hand 
of governmental authority. Many are suffering in this way; some 
justly as culprits, some unjustly for conscience sake. These count 
the weeks, and months, and years, in jails, penitentiaries, or in 
solitary dungeons. Not far from ten thousand in this country are 
confined thus : " the father separated from his children ; the hus- 
band from his wife; the brother from his sister; and all cut o& 
from the living world." 

There is also a social bondage. In different regions of the world 
one man holds another in complete subjection to his will, and 
subject to his disposition as any other property. Upon the morality 
of tliis matter I have nothing to say. But all must agree that it 
has its peculiar humiliations and sufferings ; and sometimes these 
sufferings are most intense. Bondage, though it should even be 
right and defensible, is yet hard. 

These several classes of bondmen, Christians are to " remember,^' 
That is, we must sympathize with them. The original expresses 
a high degree of sympathy. We are to remember them with deep 
26 



378 



ILEOTURE XXXIII. CHAPTER XIII. 1—3. 



and lively feeling and pity. A Christian heart is always full of 
sympathy for the suffering. This is one of the points in which we 
are to resemble Christ. It was because his eye pitied and his heart 
beat in sympathy for our suffering world that his hand brought us 
salvation. And like him, we too, must sympathize with them that 
are in bonds and suffer adversity. The extent to which this sym- 
pathy is to be carried is also clearly designated. We must 
" remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them^ and them 
which suffer adversity, as being ourselves also in the body.'''' We 
are to feel and act toward them as if we were their fellow-prison- 
ers and fellow-sufferers — as if they were our own kinsmen — our 
parents, companions, brethren, or children, in misfortunes to which 
we ourselves are also exposed — as being ourselves sufferers by 
their adversities. Sympathy is an expression of unity between 
different parts or members. A wound in the hand or foot will 
produce excitement throughout the entire system, and that excite- 
ment is both an expression and an evidence of the one life which 
animates the whole body. And as it is the impression produced 
upon the healthy members by the wound of a suffering member, so 
it also calls out the energies of the disaffected parts in the way of 
assistance in the work of restoration. And while there is a member 
suffering, and there is any energy in any other part of the system, 
it will be given and given, until health is restored, the breach 
repaired, or the whole body dies together. So Christians are to 
be affected toward the bound and suffering children of men. Their 
whole energy is to be expended in the great work of bringing all 
to happiness. To the millions who are groping under the darkness 
of heathenism, we are to labor to send the light of the Gospeh 
Those who are groaning in the bondage of sin we must labor to 
have redeemed. Those who are suffering in our prisons are to 
share in our efforts to do good. They are our brothers, and need 
instruction and consolation. Those who are laboring under the 
yoke of slavery we must pity, and for their comfort and salvation 
we must concern ourselves. 

And for these several uses God has entrusted to Christians 
various talents. To some he has given money ; to others learn- 
ing; to others genius; to others political influence; and so 
on. All these are sources of power. The virtue made the 
subject of exhortation in the text draws upon all of them. We 
are so to sympathise with the various classes of our suffering 



LECTURE XXXIII.— CHAPTER XIII. 1 S. 



379 



fellow-men as to give, and give freely, w^hat God has placed at our 
disposition for their relief. If He has given you money, theo give 
money, and give it such directions in which it will accomplish tlie 
greatest amount of good. If learning, then employ learning in 
expounding the truth and bringing it to bear where it is needed. 
If genius, then give genius to enlarge the compass of thoiight, and 
open new channels through which relief may flow down to those 
who are sighing and crying for it. If political influence, theo use 
this also in removing national impediments in the way of Christian 
effort. And so whatever God may have given you, give again for 
the promotion of his will — the salvation of men. 

And especially will the sympathy enjoined in the text lead Christ- 
ians to prayer. Whatever else they may do, this is, after all, the last 
resort. A Paul may plant, and ApoUos water, but God only can give 
the increase. His mighty arm alone can break the fetters that bind 
men down in sorrow. And to that arm will Christians ever look 
and trust. At the foot of the throne they will daily and importu- 
nately present the cause for which they continually labor. 

Brethren, let these apostolic precepts sink deeply into your 
hearts : " Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to enter- 
tain strangers ; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them ; and them 
which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body," 



LECTURE XXXIV. 



MARRIAGE. 

Heb. xiii. — 4. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whore- 
mongers and adulterers God will judge. 

In addressing you from these words I will be led to speak of a 
subject, which, on account of its peculiar delicacy, might be 
thought by some unfit for pulpit discussion. And did I simply 
consult my inclinations, I would probably myself decide not to 
bring it before you in this connection. But when I look at the 
example of those preachers of whom we read in the Bible, how 
they " shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God when I 
see the subject alluded to in the plainest terms by every writer of 
the holy Scriptures ; and when I find it Divinely enjoined upon 
ministers to " cry aloud and spare not, to lift up their voices as a 
trumpet, and show the people their sins," and find it furthermore 
declared that " if they warn not the wicked of his way, the wicked 
shall die in his sins, but his blood will be required at their hands 
I feel that there is a moral necessity in the case. I must either 
speak out on the subject, or risk the consequences of an omission 
of duty. I trust, then, that you will hear me patiently whilst I 
speak to you in the fear of God, and at the same time look to the 
Spirit to enable me to conduct this discussion with a dignity and 
solemnity becoming the day — the house — the minister of the Lord. 

I. WHAT IS MARRIAGE? 

Marriage is a Divine ordinance designed for our happiness and 
God's glory. It was instituted in Paradise, and it is to be per- 
petuated to the end of time. When man was first placed upon the 
earth, the record says, that " male and female created He them." 
It consists of the union of one man with one woman for life. As 
God originally created but one of each sex, it seems to have been 
intended that a man should have only one wife, and a woman but 



LECTURE XXXIV. — CHAPTER XIII. 4. 



381 



one husband. Accordingly we also find that nature produces about 
an equal portion of males and females, allowing one male more for 
every twelve for the increased exposure of males to accident and 
death ; whilst polygamy is prohibited both in the Old and New 
Testaments. (Lev. xviii.— 18. Matt. xix. — 3 — 11.) 

Marriage is both a civil and a religious contract. It has its 
engagements to men, and its vows to God. It is related to the 
state as a branch of public morality, and as a source of civil peace 
and strength. It involves mutual rights, which the civil law must 
defend. It involves questions of property which the civil law 
must define and decide. For these and many other reasons, the 
state must take cognizance of marriage, prescribe regulations 
respecting it, and guard some of the great injunctions of religion 
in the matter by penalities. " In every well-ordered society, mar- 
riage must be placed under the cognizance and control of the state. 
But then, those who would have the whole matter to lie between 
the parties themselves and the civil magistrate, appear wholly to 
forget, that marriage is also a solemn religious act, in which vows 
are made to God by both persons, who, when the rite is properly 
understood, engage to abide by all those laws with which he has 
guarded the institution; to love and cherish each other, and to 
remain faithful to each other until death. For if, at least, they 
profess belief in Christianity, whatever duties are laid on husbands 
and wives in the holy Scriptures, they engage to obey, by the very 
act of contracting marriage.''^ 

Marriage is not a temporary but permanent engagement. It is 
an institution of God, and it is not to be altered by man. Persons 
thus united are not privileged to separate at their pleasure, or at 
the expiration of any definite period. A wife or husband is not to 
be dismissed as a master dismisses his servant. They are bound 
to adhere to each other as long as life lasts ; and for either to enter 
into a new engagement while the other yet lives, is an offence 
against the laws of God and man. The allowance of divorce at 
the option of the husband or the wnfe, would, to a very great 
extent, defeat the whole object of marriage. For one cause only 
can the marriage relation be terminated during the lifetime of the 
parties. The Savior says, " whosoever shall put away his wife, 
except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth 

' Encyc. Rel. Knowledge, p. 776. 



S82 



LECTURE XXXIV. CHAPTER XIII. 4. 



adoltery ; and whosoever raarrieth her which is put away, doth 
commit adultery." And so long as such direct infidelity to the 
marriage vow has not been clearly proven, they are still "one 
flesh for God hath joined them together, 

II. WHAT ARE THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE? 

As it is a sacred engagement, involving many serious considera- 
tions and important consequences, and one which is to continue for 
life, it " is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but rever- 
ently, discreetly, and in the fear of God." Several things are to 
be particularly observed : 

1st. Revelation and nature concur in prohibiting marriage 
between persons who are related to each other in blood. Within 
three degrees of kindred persons should never enter into this rela- 
tion. A violation of this law is not only offensive to God, and a 
sin to be accounted for in the day of judgment, but incurs a penalty 
in the direct line of the offence. Physical and mental degeneracy 
will inevitably follow it; and in the second or third generation, a 
most lamentable imbecility and even idiocy, or a total extinction of 
the race will be the result. 

2nd. A happy marriage also requires a pure and elevated mutual 
affection between those entering this relation. The Scriptures 
insist upon a love which rises far above that mere bestial desire 
which is the sole motive in many alliances of this sort, or the mere 
question of temporal expediency which influences others. And 
without this it is very evident that marriage can be productive of 
Slothing worthy of the name of happiness, much less of pure and 
permanent enjoyment. 

3rd. It is also important that persons should not enter the niar- 
riage relation before a proper age. My own conviction is, that it 
should not be entered by persons whilst yet in years of minority as 
defined by our civil law. The reasons for it are, that minors have 
mt prudence enough to make a selection, usually have not wisdom 
and gravity enough to undertake the management of a family, and 
are most likely to transmit imperfect constitutions to their eldest 
children. 

4th. It is important, too, that none should enter into the married 
state who are themselves the subjects of disease, or have weak 



LECTURE XXXIV. CHAPTER XIII, 4. 



383 



and sickly coDstilutions, The neglecters of this matter often have 
their own suflerings augmented, probably become disagreeable 
companions to each other, are troubled with a consciousness of 
their own unfitness for the duties of their condition, frequently plant 
the seeds of suffering in the constitutions of those who follow 
them; and as they often reach premature graves, so they also 
increase the number of melancholy orphans, which are left to tug 
along the way of life unprotected and unguided by parental expe- 
rience and affection. 

5th. There should also be, in those entering the marriage rela- 
tion, a correspondence of age, mental turn, and general disposition. 
A wide disparity of age, with conflicting tastes and general habits, 
must inevitably cause collision, and often transform what ought to 
be the palace of peace and the mansion of the softest affections of 
our nature, into a theatre of interminable and incurable strife. 

6th. Another thing which belongs to the qualifications for mar- 
riage, is the prospect of a comfortable support for a family. The 
doctrine of marrying for money deserves to be totally and eternally 
repudiated ; but all reference to the subject of the maintenance of a 
family is not to be abandoned. If it is left entirely out of sight, 
marriage, in many instances, instead of adding to the stock of hap- 
piness in this world, will add only to its degradation and misery. 

III. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE MARRIAGE VOW? 

By this is meant the solemn, public, religious assumption of all 
the obligations and duties of the marriage relation as they are set 
forth in the holy Scriptures. The liturgy thus sums them up : 
A christian husband is in duty bound to love and respect his wife ; 
to endeavor to lead her with discretion, instructing, comforting and 
protecting her, as his nearest and most intimate friend and com- 
panion in lite. He is to labor diligently and faithfully in the calling 
in which the providence of God hath placed him, that he may 
maintain in an honest and becoming manner those w^ho are depen- 
dent on him. 

In like manner, it is the duty of a christian wil^e, to love, honor, 
and esteem her husband ; she is bound to manifest her love and 
attachment unto him, by her faithful and affectionate endeavors to 
promote his comfort and happiness; she is to assist him in direct- 



384 



LECTURE XXXIV. — CHAPTER XIII. 4. 



mg and governing their household, in providing for their mutual 
comfort, and contributing to the happiness of others.'" 

These duties all persons when they are married solemnly swear 
before the heart-searching God to perform. This promise is called 
the marriage vow. It is an oath by which persons publicly join 
themselves together for life. When it is performed before " any 
regularly authorized minister of the Gospel," persons are married^ 
m the eye of the law and in the sight of God." 

IV. THE HONORABLENESS OF MARRIAGE. 

The text declares that marriage is honorable.". It is honorable 
for various reasons. 

1st. It is honorable, in consequence of the great antiquity of its 
institution. There are but two institutions now in existence which 
can date their origin previous to the fall, viz. ; Marriage and the 
Sabbath. Marriage, however, was anterior to the Sabbath, and 
hence is the oldest institution in the world. And having commenced 
with the creation of man, gone into all nations, whether civilized 
or savage, and received the sanction of the most ancient, and the 
noblest systems of religion that have existed on earth, it certainly 
is entitled to a high place in our regards. 

2nd. Marriage is honorable, too, on account of its typical refer- 
ence. Christ has made it the emblem of his union with his church. 
And as we think highly of the ritual services of the Jews because 
they were typical of the work of salvation by the Savior, and 
would esteem them insignificant and worthless if divested of their 
typical reference ; so then we ought to esteem marriage the more 
honorable as it represents the relation of Jesus to his church. 

3rd. Marriage is honorable, because it is a Divine institution. 
God does nothing which is unworthy of his character. He is all- 
wise, and cannot err. All his ways are just, and right, and good. 
Yet he saw, in the plenitude of his wisdom, that it was " not good 
that the man should be alone ;" and accordingly God made him an 
help meet. " And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and 
flesh of my flesh ; therefore shall a man leave his father and his 
mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." 

' Liturgy for the use of the Evan. Luth. ChurcheSj p. 18. 



LECTURE XXXIV. — CHAPTER XIII, 4. 



385 



An institution which stands in the express will of the Supreme 
Godj certainly is deserving of our respect. 

4th. Marriage is honorable, too, on account of the comfort and 
happiness which it secures to those who properly enter into this 
sacred relation. It is true that some have suffered, and suffered 
severely, in having contracted matrimonial alliances contrary to the 
laws of nature and the precepts of revelation. . These instances^ 
however, are not to be adduced as arguments against the benefi- 
cence of the marriage institution. Dr. D wight has remarked in 
his work on Theology, " I have lived in very many families, and 
these often in plain, as well as polished life. With very many 
more, extensively diversified in character and circumstances, I have 
been intimately acquainted. By the evidence, arising from these 
facts, I am convinced, that the great body of married persons are 
rendered more happy by this union ; and are as happy as their 
character and circumstances could permit us to expect."^ Mar- 
riage calls into active exercise, purifies, dignifies, and perpetuates 
the tenderest affections of our nature. It inspires hope; it prompts 
to virtuous effort ; it nerves for the endurance of the~various hard- 
ships which lie in our path through life ; and it gives to the soul a 
contentment, the value of which no sums of gold can represent. 

5th. Marriage is honorable, on account of its great usefulness to 
society in general. 

All the natural relations of mankind depend upon this institution. 
The delightful and important relations of parents and children — 
brothers and sisters — together with many others, have their whole 
foundation in marriage. No other relationships on earth are so 
immensely interesting and useful as these. They connect mankind 
by bonds the most intimate and enduring. They resist the irregu- 
lar, evil, and stormy passions of man, and soften his rugged nature 
incomparably more than any other influences. And they spread 
through the world a degree of peace, moderation, and amiability, 
which without them, would be impossible. From these relations 
spring affections of softness and sweetnCvSS which cannot otherwise 
exist. Here they are rooted; and hence they send forth their 
boughs and branches, their blossoms and fruits. And what would 
this world be without them ? A bleak, stern, and joyless wilder- 
ness, without music, or stream, or fruit, or flower. " Domestic 

' Vol 3, p. 399, 



386 



LECTURE XXXIV. CHAPTER XIII. 4. 



society," says Robert Hall, " is the seminary of social affections, 
the cradle of sensibility ; where the first elements are acquired of 
that tenderness and humanity which cement mankind together; and 
were they entirely extinguished, the whole fabric of social institu- 
tions would be dissolved." 

And as all the natural relations and domestic affections depend 
upon marriage, so it is also the source of subordination and govern- 
ment, and consequently of the peace and order of the world. 
" Families," says the author just quoted, " are so many centres of 
attraction, which preserve mankind from being scattered and dissi- 
pated by the repulsive powers of selfishness. The order of nature 
is evermore from particulars to generals. As in the operations of 
intellect we proceed from the contemplation of individuals to the 
formation of general abstractions, so in the development of the 
passions, in like manner, we advance from private to public affec- 
tions; from the love of parents, brothers, and sisters, to those 
more expanded regards which embrace the immense society of 
human kind."i Ciiildren are taught, in the very dawn of being, to 
obey. And by learning to obey those who love them and do not 
require anything at their hands which would not be for their good, 
they become so impressed with the advantages of obedience as in 
this way to be prepared to become the supporters and willing 
subjects of civil government. Were it not for the tender influences 
of parental affection, were they taught obedience at the hands of 
those only who would rule them with a rod of iron, the effect 
would be the very reverse. Instead of respecting and loving the 
restraint of authority, they would look upon it as a grievous yoke 
from which it would be a privilege to escape. They would hate 
government ; they would view it as an evil that should be abol- 
ished ; and thus become the subverters of peace, and the most 
deadly foes to the highest interests of man. 

From these considerations of the importance of the marriage 
institution to the general good of society, it appears to me perfectly 
evident that it is honorable, that it deserves our respect, and that 
every genuine philanthropist is bound to repel every movement that 
may be made to disparage it. 

' See Hall's Works, vol. i. p. 4L 



LECTURE XXXIV. — CHAPTER XIII. 4. 



387 



V. EVILS OF THE DISREGARD OF THE MARRIAGE INSTITUTION. 

By disregard of the marriage institution, — I mean every thing 
that is incompatible with it, — all sorts of licentiousness in thought, 
in word, or in deed. The text says that " whoremongers and 
adulterers God will judge." 

In pursuing this branch of the subject, I will take the liberty to 
express myself, for the most part, in the language of the distin- 
guished preacher and theologian. Dr. Dvvight.^ Hear, then, and 
hear as you expect ere long to stand before the bar of a just and 
all-knowing God, what are the evils of that conduct which is 
specified in the text: 

1st. It discourages and prevents marriage. This regularly takes 
place in exact proportion to the prevalence of the conduct; and is 
therefore chargeable upon it, whenever, and wherever, and how- 
ever it exists. I have just referred to some of the immense blessings 
of the marriage institution. They are the blessings which keep 
the moral world in being, and secure it from an untimely and most 
terrible dissolution. They are the blessings, without which life, in 
instances literally innumerable, would be blasted in the bud ; without 
which, when it escaped this premature destruction, its continuance 
would prove a curse ; without which, natural affection and amiable- 
ness would not exist; without which, domestic education would be 
extinct; industry and economy never begin; and man be left to the 
precarious subsistence of a savage. But for this institution, learn- 
ing, knowledge, and refinement would expire ; government sink in 
the gulf of anarchy ; and religion, hunted from the habitations of 
men, hasten back to her native heavens. Man, in the mean time, 
stript of all that is respectable, amiable, or hopeful in his character, 
and degraded to all that is odious, brutal, and desperate, would 
prowl in solitudes and deserts to satisfy his rage and hunger. The 
correspondence between heaven and earth would cease ; and the 
celestial inhabitants would no longer expect, nor find, new acces- 
sions to their happy society from this miserable world. To all 
these evils, every lewd man directly contributes. Were his princi- 
ples and practices universally adopted by his fellow-men, all these 

^ See his Theology, vol. 3, Discourse on Lewdnesi, 



388 



LECTURE XXXIV. — CHAPTER XIII. 4. 



evils would universally prevail. That they do not thus prevail, is 
in no sense owing to him. To the utmost of his power he labors 
to introduce tliem all. 

2nd. Lewdness, in nearly all cases, also pre-supposes seduction. 
This in its very nature involves fraud of the worst kind. " Vice 
is its essence, lust its end, hypocrisy its instrument, and innocence 
its victim." The ruin sought and achieved is immense. It is not 
the destruction of life. The seducer plunders the wretched victim 
of character, morals, happiness, hope, and heaven ; enthralls her in 
the eternal bondage of sin; consumes her beyond the grave in 
endless fires ; and murders her soul with an ever-living death. 
With the same comprehensive and terrible malignity he destroys 
himself; calls down upon his . own head the vengeance of that 
almighty hand, which will suffer no sinner to escape ; arid awakens 
the terrors of that undying conscience, which will enhance even 
the agonies of perdition. 

3rd. Lewdness, through the wretchedness which it effects, drives 
on to the commission of other horrid crimes. Maternal affection 
is designated in Scripture, and eulogized by poets, as the attach- 
ment which outruns, survives, and triumphs over every other. 
What, then, must be the intensity of that sense of shame, and 
anguish of soul, which can induce a mother to expose her child to 
a merciless sky, to drown, to strangle, to murder it ! What must 
be the despondency and degradation which can force her to the 
contrivance and execution of a design like this ! Yet such is fre- 
quently the dreadful product of the wickedness in question. Nor 
can the author of all these evils allege that this last catastrophe is 
neither contrived nor accomplished by himself. The whole is 
chargeable upon him as the consequence of his own conduct. Both 
the murder itself, and the miseries which gave birth to it, are stains 
of that crimson guilt which dyes his soul. 

It is the ordinary course of things for impurity to manure and 
water every other growth of sin. And the vice under consideration 
is declared by Dr. Paley to "^corrupt and deprave the mind and 
moral character more than any single species of vice whatsoever." 
Wherever it prevails, all crimes become gross, rank, and prema- 
ture. Impiety, blasphemy, treachery, drunkenness, perjury, and 
murder flourish around it. " Her house is the way to hell ; going 
down to the chambers of death." 



LECTURE XXXIV. — CHAPTER XIII. 4. 



389 



4th. This licentious character soon becomes habitual. To a 
person moderately acquainted with human conduct, an attempt to 
prove this assertion would be mere trifling. All transgressions of 
this sort soon become fixed, obstinate, and irreclaimable. The 
world teems with evidence of this humiliating position; and the 
whole progress of time has daily accumulated a mountainous mass 
of facts, evincing its certainty in a more and more humiliating 
manner. Of these, the most humiliating and dreadful collection is 
found in those baleful tenements of prostitution and profligacy 
which deform every populous city on the globe, and stand publicly 
as the gateway to hell, opening to their miserable inhabitants a 
broad and beaten road to perdition. Into these deplorable man- 
sions the polluted female, cast off by mankind as an outlaw from 
human society, torn even from the side of natural affection and 
parental mercy, betrayed by the villany of a second Judas, and 
hurried by shame, remorse, and anguish, enters, never to escape. 
Here, from the first moment, she closes her eyes upon friends, 
kmdness and compassion ; takes her final farewell of earthly com- 
fort, and sees, with a dying eye, the last glimmerings of hope go 
out in eternal night. Here she bids an everlasting adieu to the 
Sabbath, the house and the word of God. To her, the calls of 
mercy are made no more. To her, the voice of the Redeemer 
sounds no more. The spirit of truth cannot be supposed to enter 
the haunts of sin and death, nor to shed the dew of life upon these 
voluntary victims of corruption by whom they are inhabited. 
Immortal life here becomes extinct. Hither hope never comes 
that comes to all; and the wretched throng embosomed by these 
baleful walls enter upon their perdition on this side of the grave! 
In the mean time, it is ever to be remembered, that the betrayer 
accompanies to the same dreadful end the victim of his treachery. 
None who go into these outer chambers of perdition turn again, 
neither take they hold of the paths of life. From sin to sin they 
go; whilst through the putrefactive influence of their impurity, 
mortification and rottenness are diff'used throughout both body and 
soul, until the nian is converted into a mere mass of death and cor- 
ruption ! 

5th. But there is still another phase of the sin of which I have 
bfeen speaking. It sometimes is made to assume a form in which a 
new sufferer is introduced, and an additional train of evils are 



390 



LECTURE XXXIV. CHAPTER XIII. 4. 



involved. I refer, now, to that species of lewdness which the 
Bible designates by the term adultery. This inflicts the greatest 
injury which the innocent sufferer can receive on this side of the 
grave. It is an injury formed of a vast combination of sufferings, 
reaching every important interest in this world, and often in the 
world to come. The husband, for example, is forced to behold 
the partner of his bosom, — once and always beloved beyond 
expression, not less affectionate than beloved, and hitherto untar- 
nished even by suspicion, — corrupted by fraud, circumvention and 
villany ; seduced from truth, virtue, and hope ; and voluntarily 
consigned to irretrievable ruin. His prospects of enjoyment, and 
even of comfort in the present world, are overcast with the blackest 
of darkness. Life to him is changed into a lingering death. His 
house is turned into an empty, dreary cavern. Himself is widowed. 
His children are orphans; not by the righteous providence of God, 
but by the murderous villany of man. Clouded with wo, and hung 
round with despair, his soul becomes a charnel-house, where life, 
and peace, and comfort have expired — a tomb, dark and hollow, 
covering the remains of departed enjoyment, and opening no more 
to the entrance of the living. 

And what an affecting and pitiable train of mourners do the 
worse than motherless children present? A singular and agonizing 
procession follows this funeral of departed virtue. Tears stream 
which no hand can wipe away. Groans ascend which no comforter 
can charm to peace. Bosoms heave with anguish, which all the 
balm of Gilead cannot soothe. The object of lamentation is gone 
for ever, and all that remains is living death. Ah, how — how shall 
we piaint the evils of adultery } " The social compact, through 
every fibre, trembles at its consequences : not only policy, but law; 
not only law, but nature ; not only nature, but religion, deprecate 
and denounce it, — parent and offspring, — youth and age, — the dead 
from the tombs,— the child from its cradle, creatures scarce alive, 
and creatures still unborn : the grandsire shivering on the verge of 
death; the infant quickening in the mother's womb;* all, with one 
assent, re-echo God, and execrate adultery!"^ 

' Speech of Charles Phillips, in the case of Brown v. Blake. 



LECTURE XX XV. 



DIVERS CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 

Heb. xiii. 5 — 19. Let your conversation he without covetousness ; and be content 
with such things as je have : for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake 
thee. So that we may boldly say. The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear 
what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, 
who have spoken unto you the word of God : whose faith follow, considering the 
end of their conversation : Jesas Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for 
ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good 
thing that the heart be established with grace ; not with meats, which have not 
profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they 
have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, 
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned 
without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with 
his own blood, sutiered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him 
without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, 
but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offei- the sacrifice of praise to 
God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to 
do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifice God is well 
pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for 
they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it 
with joy and not with grief: for that 25 unprofitable for you. Piay for us : for we 
trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to hve honestly. But I 
beseech yen the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. 

We have here sundry duties enjoined upon the professors of 
Christianity, which I will brietiy consider in the order in which the 
ipostle has arranged them. 

I. Christians are to have contentment. Let your conversation 
be without covetousness ; and be content with such things as ye 
have.'' By this is not meant that we are to aiFect a stoical indiffer- 
ence in regard to our situation in the present life. For though 
Paul could say, in the triutnph of his faith, I have learned in 
whatever state I am therewith to be content,'" he yet felt the liard- 
ships to which he was subject so that he prayed to be delivered 
from them, and was yet so keenly sensible of the " thorn in the 
flesh" that he often besought the Lord that it might depart from 
him. Nor are we to understand the apostle as giving countenance 
to idleness, or as enjoining anything upon us which would prevent 
our diligent endeavors to improve our circumstances. Persons 
entertaining such notions have evidently misapprehended the mind 



S92 



LECTURE XXXV. CHAPTER XIII. 5 19. 



of the Spirit. Nor is it merely a glad and sportive disposition 
which the text inculcates. We occasionally meet with persons in 
the various walks of life who are distinguished by a peculiar 
gayety of turn. Like butterflies passing from flower to flower, 
they flutter from one amusement to another, and seem to be entirely 
happy. But that this is not the contentment of Christianity, a 
severe reverse of fortune would very soon demonstrate. 

Evangelical contentment is a virtue which stands opposed to 
covetousness ; and it involves, as Dwight has justly remarked, the 
the following several particulars. 

1 St. " A fixed belief of the reality and excellency of the Divine 
government-" No man can be contented, who does not believe 
that the administration by which all his interests are ultimately to 
be decided is both just and benevolent. The present state of 
things is mysterious and distressing. The mysteries we cannot 
unravel, the distresses we often find it difiicult to bear. Both 
united must frequently be insupportable, unless we can confide in 
the wisdom and goodness of Him who controls the universe, as 
furnishing sufficient assurance that they are right and good in 
themselves, and in the end will be so exhibited. 

2nd. " Contentment involves an humble hope that vve are inter- 
ested in the Divine favor." A feeling that we are really interested 
in the great scheme of salvation, and that we shall at last rise to 
enjoyment of all the promises which the Gospel holds out, presents 
a remedy for every present evil. It will naturally lead us to sum- 
mon all our powers to sustain every inconvenience which our con- 
nection with the earth may for the time impose upon us. 

3rd. " Contentment involves a conviction that it is both our duty 
and our interest to acquiesce in the Divine dispensations." 

4th. " Contentment implies a cordial acknowledgment that vve 
are unworthy of the mercies which we receive .J^" No being can 
be contented with injustice. There must be then a lively impres- 
sion of our un worthiness and guilt ere we can suffer the various ills 
of life with serenity. 

5th. " Contentment involves a disposition steadily to mark the 
daily mercies of God." By looking at the many good things 
which we enjoy, we will be brought to admire the Divine 
goodness, and to wonder that it should be so fully manifested to 
creatures so guilty and undeserving as we. 



LECTURE XXXV. CHAPTER XIII. 5 — 19. 



393 



6th. "Contentment involves the moderation of those desires 
which are directed to worldly enjoym.ents." He who bends himself 
upon satisfying the cravings of his soul with earthly good must be 
utterly disappointed. Though he may gain all other things, he 
will not gain peace. 

7th. "Contentment involves self-approbation." Conscience 
must approve and smile, before serenity can shine upon the world 
within. But when it is " void of offence," there is a calm and 
peace which no outward commotions can disturb. 

And there is abundant reason assigned by the apostle why 
christians may be contented. " For He (God) hath said, I will 
never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, 
The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto 
me." With God for our portion, we need give ourselves no unne- 
cessary concern as to what we shall eat, what we shall drink, what 
we shall put on, or how we shall get through the sorrows of this 
world. If we " seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
ness, all these things shall be added." And it remains yet to be 
shown that those who rest their confidence in God for the supply 
of their wants are ever forsaken. " If God be for us, who can be 
against us 

II. Christians are to remember their teachers. " Remember them 
which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word 
of God ; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversa- 
tion ; Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day and for ever." 

1st. Christians are to bear in mind the instructions of their 
teachers. He that ascended far above all heavens, the great author 
and finisher of our faith, " gave some, apostles ; and some, pro- 
phets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for 
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
edifying of the body of Christ." But how, indeed, can christians 
be perfected and edified by ministers, unless they heed and remem- 
ber their instructions.'' Divine truth, to be of any service, must 
be received into the soul and appropriated there as food is appro- 
priated for the nourishment of our animal nature. But in order to 
do this, there must be a diligent cherishing of the weekly messages 
that come from the pulpit. 

2nd. Christians are to remember their spiritual instructors to 
follow their example of faith. It is a gratifying fact, that, though 
27 



394 



LECTURE XXXV. — CHAPTER XIII. 5 — 19. 



there is here and there a Judas or a Demas, the vast majority of 
christian preachers in this country are pious, devoted, evangelical 
men; men who love God, and love his cause, and love to win souls 
to Christ; men who have experienced in their own souls the 
renewing power of the Gospel, and hope through it to reach an 
everlasting habitation in another world. The faith of these men 
christians are to follow. In their holy footsteps they are to tread. 
Their godly example they are to imitate. And for this cause they 
should be remembered. 

3rd. Christians are to remember their spiritual instructors in their 
trials, so as to support them by their prayers. Like Moses inter- 
ceding for Israel against Amalek, the hands of Christ's ministers 
often become heavy and droop. Christians, like Aaron and Hur, 
are to stay them up. The apostles often found it important to call 
mpon the churches for an interest in the prayers of the saints ; and 
much more do preachers need this assistance now. But ah, what 
coldness and indifference do people often show to their preacher ! 
How little they sympathise with him ! How often do they add 
insult to his sufferings, and mock at his very tribulations ! And at 
best how little do they think of the overwhelming burdens which 
rest upon his hands ! Christians, pray for your ministers, not only 
as men, but as men who , are charged with the care of souls. 
When you kneel in supplication for help under your own trials, 
remember also those who have the rule over you. 

4th. Christians are also to remember their ministers as men of 
temporal wants like other men. Giving themselves up as they do 
to the work of Christ, they cannot pursue any worldly employ- 
ment, and hence are entirely dependent upon their parishioners for 
the means of life. And it is altogether just that they should look 
for support from the people. God has also commanded, that "they 
which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." It is also 
said in the Scriptures, " Let him that is taught in the word, com- 
municate unto him that teacheth in all good things." And the man 
who professes the name of Christ, and voluntarily neglects to per- 
form this branch of christian duty, is a sinner in the sight of God, 
These remarks are not made in the way of personal allusion, but 
as the truth of God, which is not to be suppressed. Only be care- 
ful, my brethren, that you always attend to it. 

in. Christians are to be stable in the doctrines of the Gospel. 



LEC5TURE XXXV.— CHAPTER XIIL 5—19. 



S95 



Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines : for it is 
a good thing that the heart be established with grace." 

The divers and strange doctrines " here alluded to, are such as 
are contrary and foreign to those taught by the apostles. Such, for 
instance, as those urged by the Jews concerning the ceremonial 
observances and traditions. Paul declares of these, that they 
" have not profited them that have been occupied therein." It is 
far better that the heart should be established with grace — that the 
love of God should be permanently rooted and grounded in the 
soul, than to be concerned about meats, and ordinances, and tradi- 
tionary laws. Let those devote themselves to these things who 
will, we have a more important matter to claim our attention. 
" We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve 
the tabernacle." There has been a sacrifice made, of which none 
can partake who cling to these things. " For the bodies of those 
beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high 
priest for sin, are burned without the camp." The very plan and 
order of the ancient services gave intimation, that when the reality 
which they prefigured should be revealed, it would be something 
distinct from and exclusive of everything relating to the old Jeru- 
salem. " Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people 
with his own blood, suffered without the gate." His religion has 
nothing to do v/ith the Jewish ceremonials. And to show this, 
when he came to erect his altar, and make his glorious sacrifice, 
he left the temple and the gates of Jerusalem behind him. He 
suffered outside of the gate, and nothing that is within it has any 
right to be mingled with his religion. Christians are therefore to 
cling to the pure and spiritual doctrines of the cross to the utter 
exclusion of everything of Jewish ceremony or w^orldly pomp. It 
is true, it may cost us some self-denial. It may render us unpopu- 
lar and contemptible in the eyes of men, if we refuse to go with 
the tide of fashion. But what is this " Let us go forth therefore 
unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach." At most it will 
be for but a few days. For here we have no continuing city„'^ 
The places that now know us, will soon know us no more, " The 
fashion of this w^orld passeth away," and we shall pass away witti 
it. Soon will come death, and the shroud, and the coffin, and the 
grave, and we shall be *' where the wicked cease from troubling, 
and the weary are at rest," What then will be reproach to us? 
What is the taunt of the Jew, or ihe jeer of the infidel, to the man 



596 



LECTURE XXXV. CHAPTER XIII. 5 — 19, 



who has gone down beneath the clods of the valley ? Will those 
eyes once sealed in death's cold sleep ever see the pointed finger 
of scorn ? Will those ears be any more disturbed by the voice of 
detraction? Will anathemas, or bulls, or the howling of wolves in 
sheep's clothing, arouse from the leaden slumber of the tomb ? 
Why then should any one be wavering in his faith to evade 
reproach for the little time we have to stay on earth ? 

Nor are we only without a continuing city here, " but we seek 
one to come." When the Savior left the world to go home to his 
throne in heaven, his consoling words to his disciples were, " I go 
to prepare a place for you." Paul says concerning believers, 
" God hath prepared for them a city." To this city we hope^ 
through Divine grace, to come. There we shall be more, far more 
than compensated for every privation which we can be made to 
endure for the Gospel on earth. For every tear shed here for 
Christ, we shall there have a thrill of rapturous delight. Every 
reproach worn for Christianity here, shall there secure to us ever- 
lasting honor. Every pain felt here in the service of God, will 
there add a gem to the crown of our rejoicing. Let us, then, be 
firm and settled in our religion. That is a trait of false zeal which 
at one time shines out like a blazing comet, and then dwindles 
down again into a taper ready to expire. Christianity is a thing of 
fixed and steady principle. It calls for firmness and decision. Its 
professors, like rocks on the seashore, lashed and beaten by the 
waves, must yet stand unaffected and unmoved. Like tall oaks of 
the forest, though scathed by the fiery bolts of persecution, still let 
us lift our heads and hands to heaven. Though the winds and 
tempests howl around us, still let us cling with unyielding confi- 
dence to the Rock of Ages. With roots of faith strongly girt 
about such a foundation, we shall stand when the storm is over^ 
and the lightnings flash no more. 

And how delightful to see a soul thus clinging to its Savior f 
The angels bend from glory with interest in the scene. Ten 
thousand spirits around it, watch it with delight. And the eternai 
Jehovah himself applauds, " Well done ! well done I Enter thou 
into the joys of thy Lord." 

IV. Christians are to give unto God the sacrifice of continual 
praise. " By him therefore let , us offer the sacrifice of praise to 
God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his 
name." As we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat 



LECTURE XXXV. — CHAPTER XIII. 6 19. 



397 



who serve the tabernacle, so we are also to adorn it with the 
proper offerings. We are to offer on it continually the sacrifice of 
praise, and the fruit of our lips. Praise and thanksgiving consti- 
tute one of the great duties of the redeemed. Duty^ did 1 call it } 
After God has created us, and while utterly undeserving, preserved 
us, and when ready to sink to perdition, gave his only son to die to 
redeen:! us, must it be urged upon men as a duty that they should 
praise him ? Shame, shame to the human heart ! Should it not be 
the natural and spontaneous impulse of the soul? Can any one be 
so destitute of feeling as to withhold it? Does it not become 
every one of us to go and sit down with our harps aside of Israel's 
sweet singer, and say, Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all thai 
is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and 
forget not all his benefits : who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who 
healeth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; 
who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercy ; who 
satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed 
like the eagle's? . . . Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel 
in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice 
of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all his hosts; ye ministers of his, 
that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of 
his dominion : bless the Lord, O my soul." 

V. Christians are to cherish a imrm benevolence of heart. " But 
to do good, and to communicate, forget not : for with such sacri- 
fices God is well pleased." 

I had occasion, in another lecture,^ to speak of the duty of 
christians to give according to their ability for the relief of all 
sorts of suffering and want. We are ever to be ready to con- 
tribute what we may have more than our own actual necessities 
•demand, whenever we see that in so doing we will be able to 
benefit our fellows, and promote the Divine glory. With the 
christian, it is not only duty, but it is a luxury to give and do good. 
It is blessed, more blessed than to receive. It is a feast to the 
conscience. It makes us feel that we are doing right ; and that is 
a feeling for which kingdoms and worlds have been offered on a 
dying bed. And then the idea of mingling in the sorrows and joys 
of others, is a pleasing one. To fill some poor sufierer with hap- 
piness by a liberal contribution, will shed a glow of sweetness over- 
one's own heart that seems like the sunshine of heaven. 

'XXX. 



398 



LECTURE XXXV. CHAPTER XIII. 5 — ^f9. 



By giving, we also show our resemblance to Christ. " Ye know 
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet 
for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might 
be rich." By giving of our possessions, then, for the welfare of 
our fellows, we show the spirit of our Savior, and prove ourselves 
to be his followers. 

By giving liberally we also improve our own moral character. 
" He that watereth, shall be watered himself." There is a reflex 
influence in benevolence which is most desirable. The man who 
gives, advances himself in virtue. While he is doing good to 
others, he is doing greater good to himself. He is rising higher 
and higher above the disease and contagion which is spreading 
around in those who are miserly and regardless of God's glory. 
He puts himself in a purer and more heavenly atmosphere. He 
schools his soul to the discipline of heaven. 

Christian liberality is also peculiarly pleasing to God. He is 
pleased with the sacrifices of prayer and praise, and with the 
offerings of a broken and contrite heart; but He is '■'well pleased" 
— it is his especial pleasure to see us doing good unto others. He 
thus sees the active operation of his grace. He thus beholds the 
vine which he planted and cherished with so much care bringing 
forth the desired fruit. And if we have any real desire to please 
God, we will be liberal. 

And our liberality here is connected with our final reward in 
another world. Let no one be surprised at this. It is a doctrine 
of an infallible Teacher. " He who receiveth a prophet in the 
name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward." " Whoso- 
ever shall give a cup of cold water, only, to a disciple, in the name 
of a disciple, shall in no wise lose his reward." It is said, " Give, 
and it shall be given to you ; good measure, pressed down, shaken 
together, and running over." " He that showeth no mercy, shall 
have judgment without mercy." " Blessed are the merciful, for they 
shall obtain mercy." The Scriptures are full of high rewards for 
the benevolent, assuring us that those who do good, and forget not 
to communicate, shall obtain everlasting riches in glory, 

VI. Christians are to cultivate submission to their rulers. " Obey 
them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves." This is 
christian duty in reference to all rulers. There is nothing in the 
Scriptures to encourage disloyalty, rebellion, or disobedience to 
magistrates. It is their strict injunction upon all, "submit 



LECTURE XXXV. — CHAPTER XIII. 5 — 19. 



399 



yourselves to every ordinance of nnan for the Lord's sake; whether 
it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that 
are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise 
of them that do well. For so is the will of God." 

Politicians commonly assume that government is a thing of 
necessity. Men, say they, following their own selfish impulses, 
soon come to oppress each other, and that organization becomes 
necessary for mutual protection and general comfort. They seem 
10 think, that God in his institutions for the good of man has had 
no reference to our political interests, but has left this matter to our 
own discretion. Notwithstanding that individual character is 
mostly framed and moulded by the power of political institutions, 
they would teach us that God in his efforts to improve and educate 
us for happiness and glory, has yet left those institutions to be 
framed by the philosophic wit of man. And hence they also claim 
the right to resist whatever authority they may choose to regard 
as illegal. But not so are we taught in the Scriptures. Revelation 
carries us back to the fountain of the race, and there points us to 
the root — the foundation of all social institutions as it came from 
the hands of God himself " God saw that it was not good for 
the man to be alone." This was the motive of government. He 
ordained the marriage relation; and in that he instituted and con- 
ferred political power. That power, thus set afloat upon the 
stream of time, God has watched with a sleepless eye, and guided 
by his providential hand, through all the successive ages through 
which our race has passed. Whatever configurations it has at 
different times, and among different nations assumed, and to what- 
ever consequences it has led in the political history of the world, 
it has always been the creature and instrument of God, and under 
his immediate control. Hence it is that the Scriptures ascribe to 
him an active sovereignty over all earthly kings and powers. 
Hence it is that the Savior has taught us to ascribe unto him " the 
kingdom, and the power and the glory." Accordingly we also find 
it written, " let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For 
there is no power but of God : the powers that be are ordained of 
God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the 
ordinance of God ; and they that resist shall receive to tliemselves 
damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the 
evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of the power.? Do that which 
is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same : for he is the mm- 



400 



LECTURE XXXV. CHAPTER XIII. 5 19. 



ister of Grod, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth 
evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but 
also for conscience' sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also.: for 
they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 
Render, therefore, to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is 
due ; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear; honor to whom 
honor." 

And especially are we to render submission to our spiritual 
teachers. " For," says the apostle, " they watch for your souls, 
as they that must give account." It is for your own good that 
ministers occupy their offices; and hence the proper respect should 
be shown them, and a willing and cheerful subordination in the 
exercise of the authority which Christ has reposed in their hands. 
This exhortation does not imply the surrender of the rights of 
private conscience to the dictation of the clergy. By no means. 
Every man is personally accountable to God ; and this fact for 
ever settles in favor of every man the right of private judgment, 
and the liberty of conscience. But there is yet a reverence and 
submission due to those who fill the offices of the church, the want 
of which no circumstances can justify. It is God who commands, 

obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves." 

VII. Finally, the apostle exhorts his christian brethren, " Pray 
for us ; for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things 
willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, 
that I may be restored to you the sooner." In this solicitation of 
the prayers and sympathies of his brethren, Paul puts his claim 
upon the honesty of his life and the increased service of which he 
would be were he set at liberty. It appears that he was in prison 
when he wrote ; most likely a prisoner at Rome. At all events, 
the language is such as we might suppose him to use under such 
circumstances, and may be of service in deciding upon the author- 
ship of out" epistle. 

I will dismiss your attention, this morning, then, by affisction- 
ately commending to your careful observance these several precepts 
of the apostle. Have contentment. Remember your teachers. 
Be stable in the doctrines of the Gospel. Ever give to God the 
sacrifice of praise. Cherish a warm benevolence of heart. Cul- 
tivate the spirit of submission to your rulers. And pray for me. 
And may the God of peace be with you, now and ever. Amen. 



LECTURE XXXVI. 



CONCLUSION. 

Heb. xiii. 20 — 25. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our 
Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting 
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you 
that which is well- pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory 
for ever and ever. Amen. And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of 
exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words. Know ye that 
our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see 
you. Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of 
Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen. 

In these words we have Paul's conclusion of his epistle to the 
Hebrews. Its substance and its spirit are in full keeping with what 
has gone before. Every sentence is full of faith, affection, earnest- 
ness, and solemn dignity. He had now gone through with the dis- 
cussion of the most momentous subject that can engage the atten- 
tion of man. He was just committing an address to a people to 
whom he was most intimately related, and which was to serve as 
the last solemn appeal to their consciences in view of coming judg- 
ment. He had traversed with a master's discernment the whole 
field of Jewish and Christian theology — plied every argument 
which his powerful mind could suggest — and set forth the truth 
with all the pathos and eloquence which his fervent soul could dic- 
tate. He proceeds, now, to commit his cause into the hands of 
another, and one far higher : " Now the God of peace, that 
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd 
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make 
you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you 
that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to 
whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." 

From these words we may observe — 1st. The representation 
which he gives of the God to whom he prays; 2nd. The object 
for which he prays ; and 3d. The medium through which he looked 
to see his prayer answered. 

1st. The apostle represents God as 'Hhe God of peaces This 
may set forth the Deity as the source of all prosperity — the pro- 
prietor and sovereign dispenser of all temporal and spiritual good. 



40^ LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPTER XIII. 20 — 25. 

This the Scriptures clearly teach. James says, that " every good 
gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from 
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow 
of turning." Nor is there any blessing enjoyed by man, or any 
other creature, which is not the gift of God. The phrase "i/ie 
God of peace'''' may also signify that God is a peaceful, and hence 
a reconciled God. As a righteous governor, he is angry with the 
wicked every day, and his wrath abideth on him. But hy the 
glorious mediation of Jesus Christ, so fully and graphically dis- 
cussed in this epistle, the Divine wrath has been appeased. The 
violated law has been fully satisfied and duly honored. So that 
now God may be approached by sinful men in perfect peace and 
safety. His mighty arm is no more lifted and clothed with thunder 
to smite down the man that would presume to draw near him. He 
is now a peaceful God — a God whom we may approach, and even 
call " our Father." 

Again, the phrase " the God of peace'''' may also signify, that God 
is willing and ready to confer peace upon the troubled and afflicted 
inhabitants of the earth. And this is also true of the Deity. He 
is not only ready to confer upon his people all suitable outward 
prosperity, but especially that more desirable and important inter- 
nal quiet of the soul, which is the consciousness of pardoned sins. 
His invitation to all is, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." " Take my yoke upon 
you, and learn of me ; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." 

2nd. The apostle further represents God as Him " that brought 
again from the dead our Lord JesusP This is a fact which the 
Jews indeed denied. But the evidence of it is far too strong to 
leave any candid mind in doubt. It was foreshadowed by types. 
It was predicted by prophecies. It is attested, also, by a host of 
witnesses, who could have had no sufficient motive in the support 
of such a falsehood, if a falsehood it were. And the Holy Ghost 
himself, by conferring miraculous powers upon those who preached 
the fact, and by sealing the effectual influences of what they 
preached upon the hearts of multitudes, has added his testimony in 
support of the truth of Christ's resurrection. The resurrection of 
our Savior by the power of God, established several very import- 
ant points in the christian system. It not only demonstrated the 
divinity of Christ, and furnished us a pattern and a pledge of our 
own resurrection from the grave; but it also proved that God 



LECTURE XXXVI. — CHAPTER XIII. 20 — 25. 



40S 



accepted of the Savior's sacrifice for the sins of the world, and 
that there is power enough in the Divine arm to accomplish ev^ery 
thing relating to our salvation. The apostle doubtless had these 
points in vie\v when he penned the language of the text. He 
hence was committing his cause to one who, having thus shown his 
acceptance of the Savior's sacrifice, must also be willing to do 
anything to promote the good of his people; and who, moreover, 
has thus shown his abundant power to do it. Though he had 
spent all his own strength, and was now to relinquish his efforts, he 
yet saw qualities in God, and assurances in his providence, which 
were amply sufficient to sustain his confidence, that the matter 
would be carried forward to the most desirable consummation. 

The object the apostle's prayer is thus stated: " Now the 
God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, 
make you perfect in every good work to do his willj working in you 
that ichich is well-pleasing in his sight. 

In another part of the epistle, he reproached his brethren as but 
babes in Christ. He represented them as unskilful in the word 
of righteousness," and needing to be taught the first rudiments of 
christian faith. Of course there was a corresponding deficiency in 
the conduct and life. Principles and actions are closely linked 
together. This deficiency he prays that God may supply. The 
word which he uses, signifies to put completely in joint — to fit 
everything completely together in its proper place. Paul wished 
to have them more thoroughly imbued with christian knowledge, 
and to have their religious belief consistently and firmly settled. 
He wished them, also, to be so conformed to a complete concep- 
tion of the truth, as outwardly to maintain the fellowship, unity, 
and order which is agreeable to the Divine will. 

The manner in which this perfection is to be brought about is 
also designated in the prayer. " Working in you?'' Everything 
good in or about us is to be traced to Divine agency. It is not in 
man to think a good thought or to perform a good action, much 
less to create in himself a good character. And if we ever have 
or do an3'thing worthy of praise, it is because God worketh in 
us, both to will and to do of his own good pleasure." I do not 
say that a good man is impelled contrary to his own choice, or 
inclination. But what I mean is, that this choice and all the 
advantage resulting from it is determined by a Divine influence, 
which is not of man's seeking. The apostle prays that this Divine 



404 



LECTURE XXXVI. — CHAPTER XIII. 20—25. 



influence might be continued to his brethren, and thus hasten their 
sanctification. 

The medium through which the apostle expected his prayer to 
be rendered effectual is thus pointed out by him : " Now the God 
of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that 
great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting 
covenant make you perfect." Although God is love, yet it is not 
consistent with his justice or holiness to communicate any good to 
mankind, but through his Son ; and through him as having died for 
the offences of the human race. He is the only accepted mediator. 
No mercy flows from the throne to which man may lay claim, but 
that which comes through him. To set any created being in his 
place, whether earthly priests or departed saints, is contrary to the 
Divine will, and is to be denounced as sinful idolatry. It is through 
"the blood of the everlasting covenant" alone that our sins are 
pardoned ; it is through that blood alone that our sanctification is 
carried on; and it is only in consideration of that blood that the 
smallest blessing crowns the life of man. When we pray, we 
must always rest our plea upon that blood. There all our hopes 
centre. There all our strength lies. Relinquishing this for any 
other ground of dependence, we resign our hold upon the Rock of 
Ages, and dash ourselves into a shoreless and unfathomable flood. 
"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ." Let us ever remember this, lest we make ship- 
wreck of our faith at last. 

" To whom be glory for ever and mr." It has ever been the 
custom to conclude prayer with a doxology. In that inimitable 
form of prayer laid down by the Savior for our use and as a model, 
we are taught to ascribe unto God " the kingdom, and the power, 
and the glory for ever and ever." Paul introduces something of 
like import into the prayers which he has committed to record. 
And since his great effort in this epistle was to exalt the Savior and 
his work, it is with propriety that he here ascribes eternal glory 
to him. This doxology implies that Christ is worthy of Divine 
honor; nor should any dare to withhold it from him. 

"t^mew," Thus the apostle gives wings to his prayer. Thus 
he ratifies his sincerity in offering it. Amen. Be it so. I swear 
it is the genuine desire of my heart. Hear it, O God. 

'■'■And I beseech you^ brethren, suffer the word of exhortation.^'' 
Paul here entreats his readers not to be offended at his efforts in 



LECTURE XXXVI. — CHAPTER XIII, 20 — 25. 



405 



their behalf. He had been necessitated to discuss disputed ques- 
tions. He had been conducted to conclusions which struck at the 
very heart of a system to which they were endeared by many 
strong- and natural ties. And now, in relinquishing his performance 
for their examination, he affectionately asks them to bear with it — = 
to receive it with kindness. " For," says he, I have written a 
letter unto you in few words." Notwithstanding the great scope 
of the subject, he had yet included the whole in a small compass. 

" Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty ?" Timothy 
was the only son of Eunice, a Jewess who had married a gentile. 
He was probably born in Lystra, a city of Lycaonia, He was 
brought up in the fear of the Lord, and was thoroughly instructed 
in the ancient Scriptures. When Paul visited Lystra to preach the 
Gospel, it appears that Timothy drank in his spirit, and became a 
thorough convert to the christian faith. There always existed a 
very tender intimacy between Paul and this young man. He 
accompanied the apostle in nearly all his travels, and was no noubt 
well known and much beloved by all the churches. It was hence 
a very pleasing item of intelligence which Paul here appends to 
his epistle. 

" Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all saints. 
They of Italy salute you." Christianity is favorable to all the 
tender civilities of life. Christianity requires, however, that they 
be attended to with sincerity of heart, and not simply with the 
empty rote of fashion, 

^' Grace be with all." May the Divine favor ever rest upon you 
and among you. May all the good which is merited by the 
Savior's mediation be fully enjoyed by you all. " Amen." 

We have now finished our exposition of the epistle to the 
Hebrews; an epistle which Dr. A. Clarke does not hesitate to 
pronounce " by far the most important and useful of all the apos- 
tolic writings." Whether it is fully entitled to such a pre-eminence, 
it is not necessary that we should inquire. From what has been 
brought to our contemplation in this course of lectures, we are all 
prepared to ascribe to it a very high importance ; and I am per- 
suaded that all who are familiar with the subject will agree, that 
the New Testament would be imperfect without it. Other portions 
assert with sufficient accuracy the great facts and benefits of the 
Gospel; but nowhere else have we any clear account of the proc- 



406 



LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPTER XIII. 20 — 25. 



esses by which they were brought into existence. Nowhere else 
do we find so satisfactory an account of the relation between the 
Mosaic and the Christian economy. Nowhere else do we find such 
a description of the ^lature and dignity of the mediatorial office. 
And nowhere else do we obtain such a comprehensive and complete 
view of the work of human redemption. The Rev. Albert Barnes 
remarks (in his Introduction to his Notes on this portion of the 
New Testament,) " When I think of the relation between the 
Jewish and Christian systems ; when I look on the splendid rites 
of the ancient economy, and ask their meaning ; when I wish a full 
guide to heaven, and ask for that which gives completeness to the 
w^hole, I turn instinctively to the Epistle to the Hebrews. When I 
wish, also, that which shall give me the most elevated view of the 
great Author of Christianity, and of his works, and the most clear 
conceptions of the sacrifice which he made for sin ; and when I 
look for considerations that shall be most effectual in restraining 
the soul from apostacy, and for considerations to enable it to bear 
trials with patience and w^ith hope, my mind recurs to this book, 
and I feel that the book of revelation, and the hopes of man, would 
be incomplete without it." Professor Stuart also remarks, (in his 
Introduction to this epistle,) " Every attentive reader of the Mosaic 
law must feel, that the epistle to the Hebrews is the best key to 
unlock the treasures which are secreted there; and that it affords 
us a disclosure in respect to the general nature and object of the 
Jewish dispensation, which christians much need, and which can 
nowhere else be found in a manner so full and satisfactory." 

You doubtless have observed, my hearers, the confident manner 
in which I have all the time ascribed the authorship of this inter- 
esting epistle to the Apostle Paul. Permit me to say, that in this I 
have followed the general testimony of antiquity — the current tra- 
dition of the church — and the judgment of the most competent 
modern critics. It is not within the power of man to prove that it 
was not written by Paul. 

You doubtless have also observed, that I have treated the whole 
epistle as a positive declaration of truth — substantial and eternal 
truth, and not as a mere argumentum ex concessiSy which had but a 
local and temporary application. In this I feel myself fully borne 
out by the fact, that every doctrine herein explained and amplified 
is corroborated by passages that may be found in other portions of 
the holy writings. Occasionally we met with things in our pro- 



LECTURE XXXVI. — CHAPTER XIII. 20 — 25. 



407 



gress which sounded rather strangely ; yet, I tiatter myself, that at 
the proper places I have shown them to be the word of God. 

I will now make a few admonitory remarks, suggested by this 
epistle, which will bring this series of discourses to a close. 

1st. Be careful not to neglect the study of the Old Testament, 
when you study the New. Many are disposed to think that in the 
publication of the christian scriptures, the ancient revelation has 
been entirely or mostly superceded. But we are taught a different 
lesson in our examination of this epistle. We have here learned 
that the one is the exponent of the other, and that separated \we 
can understand neither properly. Both must go together. It is a 
matter of regret that the New Testament should be made to go 
anyw^iere alone. And as you desire to enjoy and maintain clear, 
enlarged, and consistent \'iews of the religion which you profess, 
my direction is, study the volume of inspiration as a w^hole. No 
one part will give you the w^hole truth. Study it from Genesis to 
Malachi, and from Matthew to Revelation; believe and practice 
what you learn, and grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. 

2nd. Endeavor to magnify the character and office of our blessed 
Redeemer. In this you will be following the example of an 
inspired apostle, you will be improving your own hearts in rever- 
ence and love, and you ^vill be riveting your souls to the glorious 
religion of Jesus. Ah, what precious time and glowing talents are 
employed by some who would even call themselves christians, in. 
efforts to degrade the Divine character of our Savior, and to sum 
up his w^hole mediatorial office into that of a teacher and exemplar! 
Never fellowship or sympathise with such. In framing their creed, 
they have let the very life and soul of Christianity escape them. 
They have thrown out of their system the master-idea of the word 
of God. The time will come when all their glory shall wither. 
Look to Christ as a Divine and Almighty Deliverer, w^ho has suf- 
fered to make satisfaction for your sins ; and ever ascribe to him 
blessing, and honor, and glory. 

3rd. Beware of unbelief and apostacy, You remember the 
solemn passages which have engaged our attention. " If the word 
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and dis- 
obedience received a just recompence of reward, how shall w^e 
escape if we neglect so great salvation " It is impossible for 
those w^ho were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly 



408 



LECTURE XXXTI. — CHAPTER XIII. 20—25.- 



giftj and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted 
the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if 
they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance." " If 
we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the 
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifices for sins, but a certain 
fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation.-' Then 

take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of 
unbelief, in departing from the living God." 

4th. Finally, ever cherish a lively gratitude to God for the mag- 
nificent manner in which he caused the Gospel to be prefigured, 
and a still livelier and higher gratitude to him for that sublime sys- 
tem of which the Jewish, in all its splendor, was but a shadow/ 
Every christian who feels aright, must rejoice, even now, in the 
Jewish system. It is an indispensable link in the chain which has 
let us out into the enjoyment of Gospel freedom and hope. It fills 
a space in the wonderful history of our redemption which could 
not have been crossed without its help. And it constitutes the 
great storehouse of arguments for the Divine origin of Christianity. 

And if there be reason for gratitude and rejoicing in the Jewish 
system, how much more in the christian economy ! That was the 
type, this is the reality. That was the shadow, this is the sub- 
stance. And oh, the blessings it brings within the reach of man ! 
How it has dressed and healed the civil and social wounds of our 
bleeding world ! What heavenly moral privileges it has conferred 
upon sinful and ruined man ! What high and exultant hopes has it 
begotten for another life ! And whose heart ought not to swell 
with adoration and praise to the God who has brought us to see 
and feel it all ? My brethren, it is not within your power to show 
too much, or even sufficient gratitude for the Gospel. Bind it on 
your hearts as the subject of your highest honor and delight; con- 
sume all your strength in conformity to its precepts, and spend 
your fortunes in extending its triumphs.; and yet you will be far 
below what is due upon such an unspeakable gift. Heaven's loudest 
halleluias cannot express what it deserves, and eternity is too short 
to tell the w^onder it secures for man. 




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